Kingdom Hearts: Journey of Discovery
by DinoWriter23
Summary: It's been a year since the events of Kingdom Hearts II and darkness is stirring once again. The Organization has returned as Nobodies and have abducted teenagers from a new world. Sora and his friends must work to get these teenagers back home and find a way to stop Organization XIII once and for all.
1. Gathering of the Chosen

Chapter 1: Gathering of the Chosen

It was a peaceful day in Twilight Town. Of course that depended on where you were at the moment. If you were in the area where Hayner and Seifer were having an argument with each other it definitely would not be considered peaceful. However the woods around the old mansion were definitely quiet and undisturbed except for the calls of the birds. Inside the mansion debris was everywhere. There were still very few who dared to venture inside. Some would say ghosts resided there although right now the only souls inside were the rats and spiders that made the mansion their home.

However the horror that was to follow made ghosts a much better option.

Several dark portals opened up in the main room. The darkness swirled around them as several figures emerged from the oval-shaped doors. Each one was dressed in a black coat except for one, who had a train flowing from his outfit. The majority of the people were known as Organization XIII, a group of Nobodies who sought the power of Kingdom Hearts to make them whole. The last was known as Ansem, though he was really the Heartless of Xehanort. All of them stirred as they slowly regained consciousness.

"Wh-what happened?" One of them, a young teenage boy by the sound of his voice, asked as he struggled to get up.

"It appears we have been reborn." One of the members of the Organization said as he stood up. The hood fell from his face to reveal that he was Xemnas, the leader of Organization XIII. Xemnas was the Nobody of Xehanort, and like Ansem had long white hair, gold eyes, and brown skin. Xemnas's hair was a little messier than Ansem's was, but he didn't really care. He had something bigger on his mind. He watched as everyone in the black coats removed their hoods.

"How is that that we have returned?" Xaldin asked. Xaldin was a tall man with long black bangs. He was also one of the most skilled fighters in the Organization, which if you played the game _Kingdom Hearts II_ you would know.

"Who cares? I want to get revenge on the brat who did this to us, and his little friends too!" Larxene snapped. Larxene was the only female member of the Organization, and despite her looks was a savage beast. Her short blonde hair matched how short of a temper she had.

"There are many who desire the same thing." Ansem said from where he stood. People were surprised to see that he was among them as he had been defeated long before they had been.

"Well, well, well. You're back too." Xemnas said, although his voice lacked any emotion.

"What do you want?" Xigbar asked, raising an eyebrow. Xigbar had long hair tied in a ponytail. His face was heavily scarred and he had an eye patch over his right eye. However the eye color from the remaining eye was gold.

Ansem answered mysteriously, "Same as all of you: Revenge on the Keyblade's chosen. And I know a way to do it…"

Netokan is a thriving metropolis. If you were to see it you would think of a futuristic combination of New York City, Tokyo, and London. It wasn't far future with everyone wearing tights and having holographic butlers. However there were robots roaming around and instead of doors and windows special force fields that let in light and air while keeping people from falling out on accident.

In his room Jason Norman awoke with a fright wig of pillow head hair. He yawns as he looks around. His room is a complete disaster zone. Clothes were scattered all over the floor and his shelves looked like they had never been dusted. Jason never bothered to clean. He saw no point to it. He could function well in his mess. Other people could cry him a river if they saw otherwise.

Jason was not a nice guy. In fact most people saw him as the class bully. Netokan's school system was very anti-bully but Jason didn't care. He was always looking for someone to pick on and he never ran from a fight. Jason would've preferred to sleep in, but one more missed day and he'd be expelled. Not even Jason wanted to be kicked out of school.

Moaning and groaning Jason pulled himself out of bed. His comb was able to fix his hair problem in the bathroom and the toothpaste they have cleaned his teeth really well. Jason grabbed a red shirt from the floor and pulled his favorite jeans from the chair. Both knees had holes in them, but Jason had worn them many times and wouldn't throw them out. Once he had dressed he headed down for breakfast.

"Rise and shine, Jason." His mother said from the kitchen. Jason's mother was a woman in her late thirties, and she was a brunette while Jason had walnut-brown hair. She had a fit build and kindness radiated out of her face. All that came from Jason's face was trouble.

"Morning Mom." Jason muttered, sitting down opposite of a man reading something in a high-tech phone. He wasn't one for conversations. He preferred action. Jason poured some cereal into a bowl and the milk splashed in shortly afterwards.

"You could say something more." The man said without looking up. He sported a buzz cut that made his head look covered with dark stubble. This was Jason's father, and most of Jason's bad attitude was a result of him.

"Like what?" Jason asked without looking up. He was more interested in eating and getting out of the building.

"Maybe what you're going to be doing."

"Just the usual."

"What usual? Picking fights again?"

"Why do you care? You're always telling me a man fights."

"A man fights wars! He makes a name for himself on the field of battle. He doesn't go giving others black eyes." Now Mr. Norman was looking at Jason, who glared at him.

"What difference does it make if I fight at school or in the battlefield? I'm going to be going there eventually so why wait until then?" Jason asked.

"Young man, you need to get control of that temper!" Mr. Norman shouted at him, knocking the chair over as he stood up.

Jason slammed his hands on the table and stood up to face his father. "I need to get control of my temper? You're the one who's always yelling so loud the entire city hears it! All you ever do is yell about what I'm not doing right!" He argued with him.

"Jason, you're going to be late for school." Mrs. Norman reminded him.

"Why do we keep sending him? All he does is cause trouble for the other students and he keeps hurting his record. There's no way he'll get accepted into military service with his attitude." Mr. Norman said to his wife.

Jason snorted in exasperation. "See you later." He growled as grabbed some toast and stormed out of the room. At the entrance he pulled out a phone device similar to one his father had and began playing music on it. Although it was loud the device created a special field so only Jason could hear it. All the way to school he listened to some heavy rock music.

Clair Fay lived on the other side of the block. Clair was about thirteen years old, a year younger than Jason. Unlike Jason she had sable-black hair and brown skin as if to suggest she had been tanning all her life. She was a descendant of some of the original inhabitants of Netokan. Her people had been promised a place in Netokan if they helped to overthrow the oppressors. They accepted the deal and now were among the more populous residents.

Right now Clair was having eggs and waffles with her parents. She had gotten most of her looks from her mother, who was also a descendent of Netokan's original people. Her father, however, was descended from the people who settled Netokan. Clair's grandfather had not approved of their marriage, but when Clair came along had been happy that they did.

"Hurry up Clair or you'll be late for school." Came the warning from Mrs. Fay. Clair gulped down her remaining eggs and washed them down with a glass of milk. After wiping her mouth she picked up her things and kissed her parents good-bye.

"Don't forget you have a dental appointment this afternoon." Mr. Fay reminded her as she headed for the door.

"I won't. Thanks Dad." She said as she walked out the entrance. Clair took the monorail to school because she felt safer that way, and it gave her the opportunity to continue reading. Books were becoming rare in Netokan, but she knew a place where they sold them still. She preferred turning the pages themselves instead of sliding down a hologram. Every stop she looked up to make sure she didn't miss the one closest to school.

When she finally got off the monorail she headed for Henry Netokan High School. It was the best high school in the country, and she was among the top students. Clair always loved learning and constantly had an open mind. Some people were expecting her to go to college before she was sixteen.

As she walked up she heard lots of shouting. She couldn't make out the words, but what do you expect when something's going on and people are shouting encouragement to them? Clair hurried over and groaned at what she saw.

Jason and Aurora were having another one of their arguments. Aurora Kara was a year older than Jason, and had long black hair. Her attire made Clair think of a school outfit some students across the sea were required to wear, with the blue long-sleeved shirt and black pants. However Aurora was an official tomboy. She would not hesitate to get into a fight and was an enemy to all the cheerleaders.

For some reason Jason and Aurora had a long-going feud between them. As far as she could tell they had been going on like this since Kindergarten, and no one knew why they kept on going at each other like cats and dogs. How she wished that they would let the subject go.

A shrill whistle blew announcing the approach of the school coach. Coach Under was a former professional wrestler who retired after he had an accident that left him hospitalized. He was still remarkably fit for a man of about fifty. One of the unofficial rules among the student body was never make him mad.

The crowd broke up at the approach of Coach Under. No one dared to mess with him, except maybe Jason and Aurora. They weren't afraid to let Coach Under get involved in their fights. That's why they usually spent their afternoons in detention, thought the teachers knew better than to have them in the same room. That was just as smart as standing in front of a twister. Clair then joined some of her friends to go to class.

Nettie Juarez sat eating some nachos in the lunchroom later that day. She shivered despite the room being at a good temperature. Most of the girls had on similar tank tops with shorts like she did, and the metal legs of the chair she sat on felt like ice. She couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right today.

Looking around to make sure no one was looking Nettie lifted up her backpack and unzipped it to peek inside. Mabul had eaten all her seeds. Mabul was a brown and white ferret that Nettie loved with all her heart. It was against school rules to bring pets to school, but Nettie hated being without Mabul's company. She even lied to her mother when she asked about the backpack so she wouldn't get caught.

"It's okay girl. I got some more from the lunch line." Nettie opened a bag of seeds and poured them into her backpack. Mabul eagerly began to eat the seeds. Nettie smiled. The ferret was so cute.

"Please tell me you didn't bring Mabul again." Nettie was so startled she almost dropped her backpack. She sighed as she saw it was Clair who had spoken. Clair and Nettie bore a good resemblance to each other, except Nettie had brown hair and green eyes while Clair's eyes were brown. She saw Clair was wearing her favorite blue sleeveless shirt with her jeans and red sleeveless Raptors jacket. Clair wasn't much of a sports person. She just wore the jacket to show her school spirit.

"What if I did?" Nettie asked.

"Nettie, you know the rules. If you get caught you'll be in a lot of trouble." Clair warned as she took a seat by her friend.

"That doesn't stop Jason and Aurora from tearing each other's throats out." Nettie resumed eating her nachos.

"True. Not to mention some of the other delinquents around here." Clair scanned the cafeteria to see people she mentioned. Ashley was making her way to the table with the popular girls. Ashley was the average girl you expected to become the next Miss Popular, with long blonde hair and blue eyes. However she also had a strong dislike at being told what to do. She didn't really care about school and was famous for sleeping during her classes.

Jason was sitting next to his best friend Phil. Phil had messy brown hair and a smiling face. He was laid back and preferred to spend time in his video games. Jason once took his system from him to mess with him, but when Phil actually fought him he won Jason's respect. The two had remained good buddies for a long time. He referred to Jason and their other friends as his gang, and Clair could only hope that was only figuratively used.

Stella Valleys was among the popular kids in school. She had beauty and brains, and most of the guys were heads over heels for her. She had dark brown hair and a warm face. She always got straight A's, and always was happy to take a test. Clair in some ways looked up to her as a role model. However Clair always felt she could never be as beautiful as she was.

"Oh no. Look what the cat dragged in." Nettie warned after swallowing some chocolate milk. Clair looked to see the Mr. Truant of the school had arrived. Seventeen-year old AJ Miyazaki was the biggest flirt in the entire school. His spikey black hair seemed to attract girls like moths to a candle. AJ however never was committed to a serious relationship. If he saw a pretty face he'd go flirt with that girl. Several hearts had been broken because of him.

"Let's just hope he stays on the other side of the cafeteria." Clair munched on her cookies.

"Or that he decides to go back to the arcade." Nettie said.

"That guy spends so much time gaming I'm surprised he still has eyes in his head." Clair added.

"Well there's nothing wrong with games." Nettie said.

"The guy obsesses with them. Not to mention the female characters." Clair remembered seeing the inside of his locker was filled with pictures of various video game characters. She never allowed herself to be anywhere near that guy. "He needs a serious reality check." Clair added with a shudder.

"Amen to that." Nettie stood up with her tray. However she never took it to the trashcan. It was at that time that their world was changed forever.


	2. Everything Changes

Chapter 2: Everything changes

The doors all opened in unison as if people were coming through them yet no one did. The wind picked up as well, blowing into the cafeteria and scattering homework assignments, pieces of trash, and other odds and ends of students. Clair and Nettie shivered not because of the cold, but because there was an ominous feeling that they were not going to like what happened next.

To everyone's surprise a bolt of lightning hit the middle of the cafeteria and ringing shrieks from several girls. As they watched a green flame rose up and began to take form. When the flames died there stood the last thing anyone expected to see: a person.

They were looking at a woman who was dressed very strangely. She had on a long black robe with jagged sleeves. A pair of horns came from her head like she was supposed to be some devil woman. The strangest thing about her was her green skin. Clair had a feeling this might actually be some magical person like she read about.

"What a pathetic sight." The woman said in a voice that gave you goose bumps. "An entire generation left unattended. So many accidents could happen while you are gathered."

"Just who are you?" Jason asked. Clair groaned as she saw he was on defensive mode. Jason never liked people with arrogant attitudes, and if he felt she gave him a reason to he would fight this woman.

"Silence, silly boy." The woman replied. "I shall enlighten you of my identity when I choose to." As she looked at everyone in the cafeteria to make sure their attention was undivided she continued, "You obviously have no idea who I am, but fear not, for after this day you shall always fear me. I am Maleficent."

Jason blew a raspberry. "Maleficent? What kind of a name is that?" He asked while laughing.

"One you shall learn proper respect for!" In rage Maleficent thrust her hand out toward him in a pushing motion. Students screamed as Jason flew backwards into the wall. As he hung there the posters around him came to life and wrapped around him, binding his arms and legs. Despite his strugglings to get free it was obvious he was trapped as if vine snakes had seized him for dinner.

"Hey! No one can do that to him but me!" Aurora stated as she picked up her empty bottle and threw it at the witch. It landed at her feet and melted into a puddle. Maleficent gazed coldly at her as if trying to say even making attempts like that merited death. She then flicked one of her green wrists and sent Aurora sprawling to the floor.

That was it. The other students decided they had had enough and began to flee to the exits. Without warning all the exits slammed shut in front of them. All terrified eyes looked around them for any possible means of escape.

"Don't bother searching for a way out. There are none. Not one soul here shall leave this room until I've obtained what I've come for." Maleficent explained.

"Do you promise to go away and never bother us again if you get it?" Stella asked.

"It is not a question of if I find them. It's a matter of when." Maleficent gave her answer. "And I do not make pacts with peasants."

"Peasants? Hey lady, maybe you don't know this but Netokan is a city where no one is regarded as better than the other. We're basically all on the same level of the pecking order." Phil yelled as he struggled to free Jason.

"Hold your tongue." Maleficent ordered. As if controlled by some other person Phil's tongue reached up and grabbed his tongue.

"Now then," The witch continued, "My magic tells me that among all of you are those who possess a certain…gift. I need their assistance for a time to help with a rather complicated problem. Rest assured I will leave no misfortune upon you. Once the issue has been taken care of I shall return them to you alive and unharmed. Should they choose to not help me every single one of you will be given a fate worse than death."

"Is that a threat?" AJ asked. "You know that making threats in public areas is considered an act of terrorism."

"An act of terror?" Maleficent asked, a smile creeping upon her face. "I'll show you an act of terror." With those words she raised her arms above her head, the orb on the tip of her staff glowing. Several students gasped as they saw the floor become dark as if all the shadows in the school were gathering there.

"Hey, what's going on?" Came the voice of Coach Under. The Coach started to make his way towards Maleficent. Ashley noticed a smile appeared on Maleficent's face. She had a bad feeling about it. For some strange reason while Maleficent's spell prevented people from leaving it allowed Coach Under to enter. No sooner had he stepped into the cafeteria than the horror began.

A creature literally leapt out of the shadows on the floor and tackled Coach Under. The man's screams were cut short as a glowing heart floated up from his chest and disappeared into the darkness. The real panic began when in Coach Under's place came a huge dark creature with a big round body, long arms, and a small head with a helmet.

As students ran to get out of the cafeteria more creatures like the ones that had attacked Coach Under pursued from the shadows. They had antenna like ants with bright glowing yellow eyes and bodies resembling crouching children. Clair and Nettie tried to follow a group of girls but other creatures resembling knights with armored helms and gauntlets blocked their way. Nettie noticed these creatures had a strange insignia shaped like a heart with an x over it.

The creature that had been Coach Under also had the same mark. Running with surprising speed it cut off AJ and Phil from the other boys, the force of the motion sending them back into the cafeteria. Both felt like a brick wall had run into them. Maleficent flicked her wrist and whatever force kept people from leaving now allowed them to stampede out of the cafeteria. Soon all the students had run out of the place except for eight. Aurora, AJ, Ashley, Clair, Nettie, Stella, Phil, and a still tied-up Jason were all that remained of the student body.

"Now that we've sorted you out it's time we got down to business." Maleficent grinned with anticipation like she had some torture planned for them. However she never got close to them because things got even stranger.

Several white creatures seemingly flew out from the ground. These resembled humans without hair, faces, hands, or feet. They bended around with such flexibility any acrobat or gymnast would've been jealous. They bore an insignia on their heads that can best be described as a fountain of sorts. There were also those among them that had long arms covered with sharp spikes. Clair shivered at the sight of them.

Behind the white creatures opened several portals leading into what looked like darkness itself. From within came several hooded figures who walked as if they had authority over everything.

"Beat it, witch. You'll have nothing to do with these children." One of the taller figures said.

"It is you that has no business here!" Maleficent pointed a finger at them and shouted, "Be gone or feel my wrath!"

"Nobodies, stop the Heartless." One of the other cloaked figures, a man by the sound of his voice, commanded. Instantly the white creatures started attacking the dark monsters. A couple of the sharp armed ones climbed up to Jason and with a few swings of their arms sliced Jason free. Before he could crash against the ground a portal similar to the ones the cloaked figures came through opened beneath him and Jason fell through.

"What happened to him?" Clair asked out loud.

"He's fine, but we need to go!" The cloaked figure who had ordered the white things to attack stated.

"No, we're not going anywhere with you!" Netti snapped at the figures. Several portals opened up behind them much to their surprise. When they looked back they saw one of the figures who had spoken now had several lances around him.

"We're not asking." The figure replied. With a swing of the lances came a strong wind. The students tried to resist, but it was too strong and they were all blown into the dark portals.

When everyone regained consciousness they found themselves in the middle of a great white room. Circling them as if barring them in were thirteen tall white thrones. Eleven of these thrones had people sitting in them, looking upon the group as if trying to decide what to do with them. All around the room were the symbols on the white creatures that had taken on the dark things.

"Welcome to our domain." Said one who was seated higher than the rest, with brown skin, white messy hair, and golden eyes. "We so glad you could come."

"Not like we had much of a choice." Nettie said.

"You totally kidnapped us!" Clair shouted up at them.

"Only to keep you safe. You see, you were all in grave danger." The man replied.

"Thank you so much for stating the obvious." Stella said. "We were under attack by a witch and a bunch of demons!"

"Maleficent was there? Things are far worse than I thought." The man said with concern. Jason's eyes narrowed as if he sensed something was not right. Before anyone could say anything the man continued, "You're probably wondering who we are. I am Xemnas, leader of Organization XIII."

"Either you need to work on your math or you got some people absent. There are only eleven of you." Phil noted.

"Thank you so much for stating the obvious." Said a blonde-haired woman.

"I'm afraid we were betrayed by two of our number." Xemnas explained. "They were turned by a boy who wields a mighty weapon called the Keyblade."

Jason blew a raspberry. "Keyblade? What kind of a name is that for a weapon?" He asked while laughing.

"An appropriate name, as the Keyblade's powers are greater than you can conceive. Not even we know the full extent of its powers." Xemnas explained. "The keyblade can be used to bring light to the universe or plunge it into eternal darkness. This boy has used the Keyblade to fight us and bring chaos and disorder wherever he goes."

"Why doesn't anyone stop him?" Ashley asked.

"He's made some very powerful allies. Their alliance has allowed them to tap into much of the hidden powers of the Keyblade. However there is a solution.

"As we looked into ways to stop this threat we noticed energy similar to the boy's coming from your world. We searched it out and found all of you. We realized you too have the potential to wield keyblades."

"Whoa dude, back it up. You're saying there's more than one of these doomsday weapons out there?" AJ asked.

"And we can somehow use them as well?" Stella asked.

"Yes. That is why Maleficent came after you. She knew what you were capable of and tried to eliminate you. That's why we had to get you out of there." Xemnas continued. "I sense some of you doubt what I say."

"This is all just insane!" Jason snapped. "How can we be sure that this is all real?"

"Well you could try pinching yourself and see if you wake up." A man with a ponytail and a scarred face with an eye patch over one eye suggested.

"Here, this may help you to choose." Xemnas said as he waved his hand. In front of the students appeared several sword-like items that were shaped like keys appeared in front of them. There was one for each of the teenagers and the more they looked the more they felt as if the keys were calling to them.

"Well, go on. They don't bite." The ponytailed man egged them on.

"What if we don't want anything to do with them?" Aurora asked.

"Then you risk the future itself." A man with long blonde hair stated.

"You must know that this is for the safety of your home as well as yourselves. If you were to leave here now the boy of whom was mentioned will seek you out and destroy you, your families, and your city. Take these keyblades and with them you'll be able to protect yourselves and all you care about." Xemnas added.

"Should we?" Clair asked everyone.

"I don't trust these people one bit." Jason said.

"Well we don't know where we are, and this boy sounds like he's going to bring us trouble sooner or later. I say we'd better take our best shot at stopping him!" With that Aurora reached out and grabbed the Keyblade in front of her. Instantly it changed its design so the blade looked like some sort of dragon emerging from a mist of magic. Everyone gasped at that.

"Your keyblade has chosen you." Xemnas said. "Now it will help you bring out the power you hold within, the power that can stop the menace once and for all!"

"Will taking these help us get home?" Netti asked.

"You have my word." Xemnas promised.

"Then let's do this!" Phil said as he reached out and grabbed his. Instantly it changed to resemble some sort of game controller with wires. Everyone took the keyblade in front of him or her and one by one they changed in accordance with each person's personality.

"It is done." Xemnas said. "Now you must go and stop the threat before he can strike again."

"Where will we find him?" AJ asked.

Xemnas stood and extended his hand. Instantly the dark portal which took them all from their homes opened in front of them.

"This will take you to the archipelago where he resides. He thinks he has no one to fear and rests before he makes his next move. If you can strike at him now you will do a great deed for all. Now go." Xehanort said.


	3. Winds of Fate

Chapter 3: Winds of Fate

At the Mysterious Tower the old sorcerer Yen Sid was deep in thought. He had sensed that the darkness seemed to be growing stronger lately, but what could be the cause seemed to be eluding him. The shift seemed familiar, yet Yen Sid could not put his finger on it.

Opening his eyes, Yen Sid said, "Mickey, keep an eye on Sora and his friends."

Meanwhile it was a nice sunny day on the Destiny Islands. The smallest island in the archipelago was rich with joy as the many friends played on the beaches. Silphie was playing a game of Blitzball with Tidus and Wakka. The three of them had been surprised when Sora, Riku, and Kairi, who had been missing for some time, had finally returned to the islands. Their families had been overjoyed to see their children safe and sound. Naturally the three of them had a lot to catch up on, but after all the adventures they had been on school didn't seem that much trouble.

In between some bushes a dark portal opened up and the eight teens from Netokan arrived on the island. Nettie, Ashley, Clair, and Stella all looked around the place as if surprised. Clearly none of them had expected to see such a beautiful little island.

"When Xemnas said we were going to an archipelago I kind of pictured something more like a resort." Ashley said.

"You have to admit this would be a nice place to spend the day at." Nettie said. "I didn't think islands like this still existed on Harthyn. I thought they had all been developed." Harthyn was the name of the world that Netokan was part of.

"It is strange. If this place existed all this time why hasn't anyone found it?" AJ asked.

"I've seen pictures in my books of islands before they were made into resorts, but to see one with so little construction is beautiful." Clair said.

"If we're done sightseeing can we get back to what we came here to do?" Jason asked right as a ball hit him in the face. "Hey! Who threw that?"

"Sorry, man." Said a boy about their age with sandy hair. A girl with brown hair and a muscular guy with a long orange-reddish quish accompanied him. If you're not familiar with the games you should know that those were teenage versions of Wakka and Selphie from the Final Fantasy game series, and the speaker was Tidus who also originally came from those games. "Would you mind handing back the ball?"

Jason answered by chucking the ball as hard as he could. Tidus caught it with no problem.

"Nice throw, man." Tidus said as he began to walk off with his friends.

"Wait, where are we?" Stella asked them.

"Destiny Islands." Wakka answered.

Everyone from Netokan stared at each other. It was a location none of them were familiar with.

"I've got a feeling we're not in Bunom anymore." Clair said. Bunom was the name of the province Netokan was the capital of.

"I don't think we're on Harthyn anymore." AJ said.

"What are you saying? That we're on another planet?" Phil asked.

"That's impossible!" Jason said.

"I don't think so." Nettie said. "Look, didn't you see the way they were dressed? No one on Harthyn dresses like that, not even on any of the islands. Also look at the plants. None of them match the island flora we know of."

"The places have been developed." Stella pointed out.

"It doesn't matter. You know that every single plant and animal species has to be documented before a place can be developed. None of the plants here match what has been recorded for any of the islands. And look at those birds. I've never seen them before, and seabirds live near the ocean no matter what. Someone would've spotted them years ago."

"Look, we can stand here arguing all day about what planet we're on or we can do what we came here to do." Aurora said.

"Did anyone remember to get the guy's name from Xemnas?" Nettie asked.

Everyone looked at each other as they realized they didn't.

"Well that's just great." Jason said with a lot of sarcasm. "Now how are we going to find this guy? Walk around going, 'Hey Mr. Keyblade guy! We need to talk to you!'"

"That never works." Stella rolled her eyes at them.

"Shhh! Listen." Ashley said. Everyone did as she said. Sure enough they heard the sound of clanging metal.

"Sounds like swords of some sort." Phil observed.

"We should check it out. Xemnas did say the guy used a keyblade, and right now I'd bet my bottom quart that he's in that direction." AJ said, using the Netokan equivalent of 'I'd bet my bottom dollar.'

On the other side of the island Sora and Riku were practicing with their keyblades. Ever since they had gotten back to the islands they trained with each other to improve their skills. Right now they were evenly matched.

"Had enough Riku?" Sora asked his best friend. Sora had brown spikey hair and a black jacket with shorts. Why anyone would wear such an outfit at the beat is beyond me. All I know is that Sora did not seem to mind.

"Giving up already? Come on, Sora. I thought you were stronger than that." Riku said. Riku was a year older than Sora, and had long white hair. He wore jeans and a white and yellow jacket. Unlike Sora, Riku's hair was white and smooth. Not one strand stood up.

"Not when I'm about to win!" Sora said as he pushed Riku back and swung his keyblade around. The Kingdom Key resembled a long white pole with the teeth shaping a crown. The handle was black with a golden guard around it. The keychain token attached at the end was a Mickey Mouse shaped head.

Riku's keyblade was of a different make. The Way to Dawn mainly resembled a red and black dragon wing with an angel wing for the teeth. The handle was also red and black while the guard was a combination of the wings of an angel and a dragon. A blue eye was at the connection between the wings. The keychain was a heart shape token similar to the symbol some of the Heartless had without the X.

The keyblades clashed with each other again. "Since when did I ever let you win?" Riku asked. The two continued while their friend Kairi watched. Kairi was close to Sora's age with dark auburn hair and a pink dress. She had blue eyes similar to Sora. She too could use a keyblade. However for right now she was content to watch her friends practice with each other.

None of them had any idea that further down the beach they were being watched by a group of interested observers.

"Great. There are two of them." Jason said.

"We can count just fine." Aurora said. Jason glared at her.

"Well, let's get this over with." Phil said as he summoned his keyblade.

"Wait, I don't feel good about this." Clair said.

"What?" Several people asked.

"Don't any of you understand what we're being asked to do? We're being sent on an assassination mission. We're being told to murder someone!" Clair pointed out.

"Yeah, and they don't seem like dangerous psychopaths to me. They just seem like guys having a good time." Nettie observed. "If they were really a threat wouldn't they be trying to kill each other?"

"Good point." Ashley said.

"That's it. I'm going to take care of this!" Jason said as he summoned his keyblade. His was called the Born Fighter and the blade was a long black pole with a fist forming the teeth. The handle was white with grey guards. The keychain token was a basic boxing glove. Without waiting for anyone Jason charged down at the three surprised friends.

"Well there goes the element of surprise." Aurora said as she summoned her keyblade. The Fantasy Warrior had a strong resemblance to a sword with the head of an open-mouthed dragon forming the teeth. The handle was gold with silver dragon wings forming the handle. A star was the keychain token here. Everyone else summoned their keyblades and followed after Jason.

"What the…" Sora asked as Jason swung his keyblade down between him and Riku.

"What do you want?" Riku asked. Jason just swung his keyblade in response. Seeing he was not going to be able to reason with this kid Riku began blocking his attacks. Riku was obviously more skilled than Jason was because Jason was just swinging his keyblade around like a madman. Riku kept calmly blocking and sending some Dark Firaga blasts at him. AJ, Aurora, and Stella soon joined Jason in attacking Riku while everyone else converged on Sora.

Both Sora and Riku worked to keep their distance from these crazy kids. The students from Netokan kept rushing in while Sora and Riku kept blocking and knocking them back. Kairi didn't just stand idly by. She summoned her keyblade, Destiny's Embrace, and rushed in to help her friends. Clair and Nettie both silently agreed that they liked the design of her keyblade. The blade was multi-colored with flowers forming the teeth. The guards seemed to hold the theme of waves against the beach. The handle was blue and the keychain token was some star-shaped thing they had never seen before. Kairi's initial attack was to knock some of the combatants away from Sora and Riku. Soon Kairi was facing off against Clair, Nettie, and AJ.

"Hey there, good-looking." AJ smiled at her. Kairi shook it off and blocked an attack from Clair. Like the people from Netokan Kairi mainly relied on her melee moves. She was more calm and coordinated than her foes though. Still there were more of the Netokan students than there were of her and her friends.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere a pair of chakrams flew threw the air and knocked the keyblades of the Netokan students to the ground. Everyone looked to see a person in a cloak similar to Organization XIII grab the flying weapons. Someone else in a similar black cloak accompanied him.

"Axel?" Sora asked. The figure with the chakrams removed his hood to show a man with red hair and green eyes underneath.

"Still got it memorized, I see." Axel said.

"But how?" I thought you were…" Sora couldn't finish his sentence.

"So did I. Unfortunately I can't answer how I'm not pushing up daisies right now."

"We're here to help your new friends." The second figure said. The voice identified this person as a woman.

"We're not their friends!" Jason snapped at them.

"You're the traitors Xemnas mentioned, aren't you?" Ashley asked. Her comment earned gasps from Sora, Riku and Kairi.

"Xemnas?" They asked in unison.

"So Xemnas is also back huh?" The woman said. "I guess this makes things more complicated."

"Listen, I don't know who you think you are, and frankly I don't care. All I know is that you are in the way of us getting back home!" Aurora said.

"Hey relax. We come in peace." Axel said.

"Just hear us out. Whatever Xemnas promised you he won't give it." The woman said.

"Liars!" Jason said as he grabbed the Born Fighter keyblade and charged towards them. The woman moved so fast she vanished, only appearing right behind Jason. She then wacked him on the head with an unseen weapon that caused Jason to fall to the ground unconscious. Everyone except Axel gasped as they saw she too had a keyblade.

The woman's keyblade was a heavy white with an octagon for the teeth. Angel wings formed the guard with a pearl in the middle. The handle was a greenish color and the keychain token was the sun.

"I don't think that's the best way to calm someone Mika," Axel said to Mika.

"Well it worked." She replied as she took off her hood. Mika too had blonde hair, but her face was friendly and inviting. Her brown eyes were just as warm as the expression on her face.

"That doesn't score you points on the trust board." Clair said as she held her keyblade out in front of her. Clair's keyblade was a design that hinted at magic. The blade was an array of colors intertwining with each other. A combination of a crescent moon and the sun made up the teeth. The hilt was pure white with a dark guard around it. The keychain token was a simple white orb.

"Wait. There's a lot that doesn't make sense." Kairi said.

"Like how did all of you come into contact with Organization XIII?" Riku asked.

"And how are they even back?" Sora asked.

"Here's the thing. We don't go around telling our stories to strangers. However we will make a deal. If you promise to be honest with us about everything we'll spill the beans as to how we crossed paths with the Organization." AJ said.

"Sounds good to me." Axel said.

"Yeah, that sounds fair." Sora agreed.

Everyone from Netokan took turns explaining how they had been attacked at their school by Maleficent, with Riku commenting that her doing such a thing didn't surprise him, how the Organization got them out of their, and what Xemnas promised to do for them if they helped them out. Axel and Mika made corrections about the Heartless and Nobodies from time to time, and gave them the names of the Organization members. During this time Jason regained consciousness and was brought up to speed. He sat glaring at Mika the whole time. Jason did not like getting bested by anyone, especially if that someone was a girl. The fact that Mika was older than he was didn't help.

"So you agreed to help the Organization and it never occurred to you to ask them to just send you home?" Mika asked after the explanations were done.

"They made a reasonable agreement. Besides we didn't know if Maleficent would try again to attack us.

"Something just doesn't seem right about all this. The Organization invades your school while Maleficent is on the attack, and it sounds like she might've been holding back on you. If she really wanted to destroy you nothing would've been left. No one would've survived." Riku said.

"Are you suggesting the whole thing was a setup?" Stella asked.

"It could be. Xemnas is clever that way. Better memorize that." Mika said.

"Why do you two insist that we memorize everything?" Clair asked.

"It might come up on your final." Axel joked.

"Sora! Riku! Kairi!" A familiar voice called out to them. Everyone looked to see a familiar face waving down the beach.

"King Mickey!" Sora, Riku and Kairi said in unison. They all stood up and began to race down the beach to greet their old friend. However as fate would have it everyone was going to receive an unexpected surprise. As soon as Sora and Kairi entered the shade of the thick foliage cast by the setting sun they cried out in pain. Everyone watched as they fell down while two shadowy rises appeared. What made it more surprising was when the rises had grown enough that everyone could see underneath them. They seemed to be roots of some sort, yet that didn't seem to fit. While rushing down to the aid of Sora nad Kairi everyone realized what it was.

Those were giant fingers that belonged to some giant, unknown being. Ashley was sure that the hand these fingers were connected to could grasp all fourteen of them with no problem.

Sora and Kairi continued to cry out in pain as the fingers dug in at their feet. From the way the fingers were slowly dragging Nettie thought that it looked as if they were pulling on something. As she looked she realized the fingers were pulling on Sora and Kairi's shadows.

As soon as they caught up to Sora and Kairi they began to assist Riku and King Mickey. The two of them had summoned their keyblades and were attacking the fingers. Everyone else joined in too. It wasn't too long before the fingers receded back into the shadows that they came from.

Of course that was only after Sora and Kairi had stopped crying out in pain.

It didn't take long for Riku to check on his friends. "You two okay?" He asked them.

"Yeah, we're fine." Kairi said as she stood up.

"But what was that all about?" Sora asked.

"If you ever find out please let me know." Phil said.

"Uh guys? Where did they come from?" Aurora asked as she pointed to something on the ground. Everyone looked down to see two blond-haired kids lying not too far from where the fingers had stopped pulling. One was a girl in a white slip, the other was a boy with a white jacket with black blocks and beige pants. He almost looked like a walking checkerboard.

Axel, Mika, Sora, Riku, Kairi, and King Mickey all looked at each other knowingly.

"Could this day get any weirder?" Phil asked.


	4. Enlightened by Truth

Chapter 4: Enlightened by Truth

Everyone stood there as the two kids started stirring. Jason could tell that the people who were not from Netokan knew who they were, and were quite shocked to see them. He was feeling pretty mind blown. There was no way that these two could've come from Sora and Kairi, yet the more he thought about it the more it seemed like it was the only explanation.

As the two figures stirred everyone seemed to hold their breath. The boy and girl then opened their eyes at the same time. Clair was surprised at how blue their eyes were, just like Sora and Kairi's.

"Naminé?" The boy asked the girl.

"Roxas?" Naminé asked the boy in return.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," Axel joked with them as he and Mika both extended a hand to help them up. AJ couldn't tell out of the entire group who was the most surprised.

"But how…" Roxas questioned.

"Would someone please explain what's going on?" Jason asked.

"Gosh, I wasn't expectin' this," King Mickey admitted. "But I know just who can answer some of our questions."

"Master Yen Sid?" Sora asked the mouse.

"Yep." Mickey said.

"Who's Master Yen Sid?" Stella asked.

"You'll see. Now everyone, hold on to each other." Mickey instructed. Sora, Riku, and Kairi each held on to Mickey while everyone else found an arm to hold on to. None of them knew what to expect, but Clair, Nettie, and Stella had their suspicions that magic was going to be involved. With his free hand King Mickey held up a blue gemstone shaped like a star.

"Alakazam!" No sooner had the word left Mickey's mouth than everyone found themselves being pulled along at what felt like the speed of light. All around them the stars whipped by so fast they appeared to be nothing more than blurs. Whether they were traveling through space or somewhere else wasn't clear. All that many of them could feel was pure light racing by as they were pulled to their destination.

Back in the (name of the room with the thrones) Xemnas looked troubled. He was sure that the children would've carried out the mission by now. He knew when it came to different worlds time was sometimes an issue, yet it shouldn't have taken them this long. He suspected Sora might've overcome them, yet that didn't feel right.

"Report." Xemnas said. A dark corridor opened in the middle of the room and from the oval-shaped door came Xigbar.

"Bad news: the children were stopped by Axel and some girl he was with," Xigbar explained.

"Kamix has finally betrayed us," Xemnas mused.

"What's worse is now they're all with the rat king, and he's probably taking them to see his master," Xigbar finished.

Xemnas's eyes flashed angrily. "Master Yen Sid," He growled.

Everyone crashed into the ground with the force of a meteorite. Everyone felt like they had been accelerated into a brick wall. Jason complained about feeling like every bone in his body was broken. Ashley was sure she was going to have a headache for a month.

"That was faster than the express monorail." Phil said as he staggered to his feet.

"You'll move faster to the hospital unless you zip it," Jason warned.

"What is this place?" Clair asked.

"Welcome to the Mysterious Tower," Mika clarified. The Mysterious Tower certainly lived up to its name. The building itself was crooked and bent with windows shaped like stars and moons. The cone-shaped top made people like Clair, Nettie, and Ashley think of a sorcerer's pointed hat.

"Why is it called The Mysterious Tower?" Stella asked.

"If we knew that it wouldn't be mysterious. Got it memorized?" Axel asked.

Stella rolled her eyes in response.

"Your Majesty!" Two voices called out. Everyone looked up to see an anthropomorphic duck and dog walking towards them. I'll save you the description because you'll soon know who they are.

"Donald! Goofy!" Sora cried out as he ran up and embraced his friends.

"You know them?" Phil asked.

"Yeah. These are my friends, Donald Duck and Goofy." Sora introduced them.

"Donald's my court wizard, and Goofy's my captain of the guard." Mickey explained.

"I'm confused." Jason said.

"What else is new?" Aurora asked.

"Come on. We've got answers to find," Riku reminded them. With that everyone started towards the tower. Clair looked up the spiral staircase to see it appeared to only go up one floor. As they ascended the stairs she noticed a strange feeling. She felt open like there were no limits and no restrictions.

"Can you feel it?" Nettie whispered to Clair.

"If you mean like nothing's impossible, then yes," Clair whispered back. "Do you think it's magic?"

"That's what I would assume." Ashley whispered behind them.

"Private conversation," Nettie informed her.

"Then you should talk softer," Stella suggested.

They would've started arguing, but they didn't because at that moment Mickey opened a door at the top of the stairs. One by one they all entered to meet Master Yen Sid. Clair had seen pictures of wizards and sorcerers in her books and what she saw matched her imagination. Master Yen Sid was dressed in a blue robe with a forked beard and a pointed blue hat decorated with gold stars and moons. For those of you unfamiliar with the games Yen Sid was the sorcerer who was training Mickey in _The Sorcerer's Apprentice_ from _Fantasia_.

"Master Yen Sid." Mickey, Donald, and Goofy said as they bowed before the sorcerer.

"Welcome all of you. I've been expecting you." Master Yen Sid said.

"Expecting us?" AJ asked.

"Yes. I've seen that you would all come eventually. There is so much that you need to be made aware of if you are to find your way back home."

"Are you really a wizard?" Ashley asked.

"Sorcerer, though that was a good guess," Master Yen Sid corrected her.

"The greatest ever," Donald added.

"That's right. Yull never find a better sorcerer anywhere," Goofy informed them.

Master Yen Sid raised his arms to stop them. "We have more important matters to discuss," He explained. "You all are aware that your school was attacked by Maleficent."

"Duh." Several of the students from Netokan said in unison.

"And not too long after we were rescued by Organization XIII," Stella added in. That statement came as a shock to Master Yen Sid because his eyes widened.

"Organization XIII? Are you sure?" Master Yen Sid asked.

"That's what that Xemnas dude said." Jason said.

"Xemnas?" Master Yen Sid closed his eyes. After a minute he opened them and said, "Yes, I see now. The darkness has been blocking so much from my vision lately. I knew something was amiss, but I did not expect the Organization was behind it."

"Why?" Aurora asked.

"Because we thought they had all been killed." Riku explained.

"What?" Everyone from Netokan asked.

"Are you saying we were working for ghosts?" Phil asked.

"Ghosts don't have a lot of power, and from what you told us earlier they seemed pretty powerful." Mika said.

"I'm afraid Organization XIII is back, and they will be seeking revenge on you and your friends." Master Yen Sid said.

"Xemnas did mention that the keyblade could plunge the universe into eternal darkness," Stella mentioned.

"Which is what he will undoubtedly try to do again. Xemnas cares nothing for the worlds or those who—" Master Yen Sid began to say.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold it. Worlds?" Jason asked.

"You mean like parallel worlds? As in other existences besides our own?" Nettie asked.

"Xemnas failed to mention that," Aurora stated.

"There's a lot the Organization didn't tell you. Got it memorized?" Axel said.

"There is much you need to know." With a wave of his hand Master Yen Sid caused a big brown book to float off one of the shelves in his round room and placed it on his desk. "Read from this book. It will give you the information you will need."

"Uh, slight problem? If we from another world what makes you think we'll be able to read it?" Clair asked.

"It's a magic book. Whoever reads from it reads it in their native language." Master Yen Sid explained.

That seemed to satisfy the group as they all looked at the book to start reading. Jason was never a book person and Phil and AJ preferred their video games to reading. However that didn't mean they were illiterate, and as they looked they saw the words appear as if they were written on Harthyn. These were the words they read:

Long ago, people lived in peace, bathed in the warmth of light. Everyone loved the light. Then people began to fight over it. They wanted to keep it for themselves. And darkness was born in their hearts. The darkness spread, swallowing the light and many people's hearts. It covered everything, and the world disappeared. But small fragments of light survived, in the hearts of children. With these fragments of light, children rebuilt the lost world. It's the world we live in now. But the true light sleeps, deep within the darkness. That's why the worlds are still scattered, divided from each other. But someday, a door to the innermost darkness will open, and the true light will return.

"Nice fairy tale." Aurora said as she finished.

"I don't think it's a fairy tale, Aurora," Clair stated.

"It's not. We've seen the place where the light sleeps." Kairi said.

"Kingdom Hearts." Sora and Riku said in unison.

"Kingdom Hearts?" Nettie asked.

"The heart of all worlds. The place where the light still lingers," Master Yen Sid explained. "It is that power that Xehanort seeks to control for himself."

"Xehanort?" Everyone from Netokan asked.

"Let me explain." Master Yen Sid waved his hand and an image of Jason appeared next to everyone. A second later it was replaced by an image of the black creature with yellow eyes and antenna. "Whenever a person succumbs to the darkness in their heart a Heartless is born. This form, called a Shadow, is the most common. They hunt in packs seeking to consume the hearts of others, and for every heart they take their numbers grow."

Pausing for a second, Master Yen Sid caused an image of the white flexible creature to appear. "If a person with a strong heart falls to the darkness their bodies will eventually start to move on its own. Eventually they fade back to darkness because Nobodies like the Dusk don't really exist."

"Heartless? Nobodies?" AJ thought out loud.

"Organization XIII is made up of Nobodies." Sora added in, causing the students from Netokan to look at them wide eyed.

"Those guys are Nobodies?" Ashley asked.

"That explains why they've got a vendetta against you," Jason remarked.

"Organization XIII tried to recreate Kingdom Hearts to take its powers for themselves. They were stopped thanks to Sora, Riku, and their friends." Master Yen Sid said.

"Why do I get the feeling that if they succeeded they would've brought about Necrodies?" Stella asked.

"What?" Roxas asked.

"Death day, the end of the world." AJ explained.

"But who is this Xena-hart dude?" Jason asked.

"Xehanort was a former apprentice to Ansem the Wise, the ruler of Radiant Garden." Master Yen Sid continued as an image of a man with silver hair and a lab coat appeared next to the image of a bearded man with blonde hair, with a lab coat and a red scarf around his neck. "However Xehanort betrayed his master, took his name, and banished him from his world. Xehanort continued studies that his master had forbidden which ultimately led his heart to succumb to the darkness. He became the Heartless Ansem and the Nobody Xemnas." The respective images appeared.

"So what's the deal with the keyblades and all that?"

"Keyblades are powerful weapons that were once used to protect the light. However when people sought to control the light for themselves they made keyblades of darkness. Whoever uses a keyblade can use it to bring order to the worlds, or chaos." Master Yen Sid answered.

"So does your book give any idea as to why we got keyblades from Xemnas?" Stella asked.

"It does not. No one knows how a person is chosen. All we know is that the keyblade choses who wields it." Master Yen Sid answered.

"Hold on. Are you saying these pieces of metal are alive?" Jason asked.

"In a way, but not the way you think."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Only you can find the answer for yourselves."

"So if Xemnas and the Organization are back, will they try again to succeed with their plans?" Clair asked.

"Yes, which is why all of you must stop them." Master Yen Sid replied.

"You can count on us. The Organization doesn't stand a chance with everyone here." Sora said.

"You feel up to fighting against your former team with us?" Riku asked Axel and Roxas.

"Sure. Not like I've got the heart to care about them anyway." Axel said.

"They treated me like a tool before and hurt innocent people. I will do what I can to help you." Roxas promised.

"Before you embark on your quest, I have some gifts for you," Master Yen Sid said as he stood up. With a wave of his hand everyone noticed that their clothes glowed with a soft light for a few seconds. "Now whenever you visit another world your clothes will change to help you blend with the inhabitants."

"Why is that important?" Jason asked.

"Because you must not let other people know other worlds exist. Knowledge like that would bring chaos. Keep all such knowledge secret. Don't even tell them the name of your city," Master Yen Sid explained.

"Thank you." Several people said.

"Now for your second gift." Master Yen Sid pointed to the window and everyone looked out to see several brightly colored spaceship-like vessels waiting for all of them.

"Why is there more than one gummi?" Sora asked.

"The Organization will be looking for you. A large group will attract more attention than is needed. Divide yourselves into smaller teams, then choose a vessel to transport yourselves in." Master Yen Sid answered.


	5. Crashing wedding crashers

Chapter 5: Crashing wedding crashers

Sora's group

The first group set out eagerly. Nettie and Phil looked out the window with wonder and awe. The scenery outside the Gummi ship was unlike the skies they had seen in Netokan, Destiny Isles, and Mysterious Tower. It constantly changed from dark violet to lime green and all sorts of colors. To Nettie it almost seemed to be something wonderful, like pure imagination. She was sure that whatever she imagined she could see outside.

"So where do you think we're headed to first?" Phil asked Nettie.

"I don't know. It's not like we had a class on other worlds." Nettie said.

"True." Phil said. He then inhaled deeply and then started gagging. "Ugh! What's that smell?" He asked.

Nettie's eyes went wide as she remembered something. "I forgot!" She said as she pulled her backpack off her back and opened it. Mabul was sitting there looking a little miserable.

"What is your ferret doing in your backpack?" Phil asked.

"I brought her to school with me."

"You know the rules. No pets at school."

"We're technically off-campus now."

"Good point."

Mabul by this time had poked her head out of Nettie's backpack and was looking out the window. The ferret seemed just as amazed with the few as Nettie had been. Mabul had never seen anything as interesting or beautiful as this before.

Then the moment ended. The ship jolted violently and caused Phil and Nettie to lose their balance. Nettie was glad that she avoided landing on her backpack. As soon as they could Phil and Nettie got back on their feet and rushed to the cockpit. Nettie made sure to zip her backpack shut so Mabul wouldn't fly out on accident.

As soon as they reached the cockpit they saw what was wrong. Out the window were lots of spaceship-shaped Heartless attacking them. The attacks were rocking the ship, and both realized unless stopped they would be going down.

"About time you two showed up!" Donald said as he struggled with the steering.

"The Heartless are gonna knock us outta here!" Goofy cried out as he held on to his seat for dear life.

"Are there any weapons on this ship?" Phil asked as he looked around.

"Take the control panel by your hand!" Sora instructed. Phil noticed a panel with buttons on it that slightly resembled a game controller to him. He put his hands to it and found it worked like a game controller. Once he figured out which buttons fired the lasers he was shooting heartless out of the sky.

Nettie found another panel similar to Phil's and also got to work. She wasn't a heavy gamer like Phil, but she still played a few. Her father had not approved of playing video games, saying that they were worthless and would do nothing to help her.

Nettie smiled as her gaming skills now came in handy. She was able to quickly press the right buttons to shoot the Heartless and adjust directions quickly. Even though she, Phil, and Sora were able to shoot the Heartless out of the sky there were still lots coming.

"Ruins up ahead." Phil said. Everyone looked to see some Arabian-styled ruins floating up ahead just a little to their left.

"Quick, we'll take that route." Sora said as he grabbed the steering and piloted the ship into the ruins. It might've seemed like a good idea at first, but then more Heartless came out of the ruins. Some had wings, others had legs like spiders to allow them to keep a hold on the ruins. Phil and Nettie kept shooting while Sora and Donald worked at steering the ship through the ruins.

Eventually they lost the Heartless and the scenery changed to that it was bright all around them, like they were traveling through a tunnel of light. Nettie and Phil covered their eyes to avoid being blinded. When they opened them again they saw an amazing sight.

A mighty city laid just in front of them. A great desert surrounded this city, but their attention was drawn to the largest building there. Phil and Nettie were certain it had to be a palace of some sort because it looked like it was made from alabaster stone with bronze domes topping several thick minarets.

"What is that place?" Nettie asked as she unzipped her backpack so Mabul could see.

"Our first stop. Agrabah." Sora said.

Agrabah was very different from Netokan. There were no paved roads and the buildings were all made of stone. From what Phil and Nettie could see all the stores were located outside in the stalls of the marketplace. Compared to the high tech world of Netokan this place was totally alien to them.

"Welcome to Agrabah." Sora said as walked through the streets. No one cast strange looks at them because Master Yen Sid's magic had worked. They were now dressed in attires similar to what the people of Agrabah wore. Sora did have to keep adjusting the turban he wore because it kept slipping down his face. Goofy's attire was similar to his old one, except it was in the Agrabah style. Donald now had a robe on.

Nettie had to admit she liked the new dress she wore. The color was similar to her old clothes, except she also had a hood. She assumed it was to keep the sun out of her eyes. She also liked the pointed shoes she now wore. Her backpack had turned into a satchel that hung over her shoulder. Nettie hoped that it wouldn't be easier for Mabul to get out of. The only change to Phil apart from his clothes now being Agrabah style was that he wore a fez like Goofy. She thought they looked a little silly.

"Everyone seems really happy today." Goofy observed as they walked around.

"Maybe Aladdin and Jasmine will know what's going on." Sora said as they kept walking.

"Haven't you heard? The two of them are finally getting married!" One of the shop owners said as he held out some watermelons to them. Phil and Mabul would've taken some, but Sora's attention was now elsewhere.

"They're getting married? Come on, we need to get to the palace!" Sora said as he started to run off.

"Sora, wait up!" Donald and Goofy said as they followed after him. Nettie and Phil chased them too, not wanting to be left alone in a strange city. They moved through the narrow streets and alleys of Agrabah, until they came to these large wooden gates.

"Look at the size of these gates Phil. It must've taken a long time just to carve them." Nettie said.

"No time to be admiring the architecture. We need to get to that wedding." Donald said as they pushed the gates open. However what they heard as soon as the gates were open was screaming and crashing. Whatever was going on it didn't sound like a wedding.

"Come on." Sora said as they hurried across the courtyard to the palace. When they arrived they saw chaos and pandemonium. Several men were grabbing all the gold they could find and elephants were running amok. Phil and Nettie didn't know that the animals were elephants because elephants were not native to Harthyn. What they saw were big beasts with big ears and long noses that were trashing the place.

"Sora! Donald! Goofy!" A voice cried out. Everyone turned to see a big blue guy with a black goatee and ponytail trying to keep things under control.

"Genie!" Sora called out. "What's going on?"

"The wedding's under attack by the Forty Thieves!" Genie said as he continued to keep the thieves at bay.

"We'll help you." Phil and Nettie said as they summoned their keyblades, which Sora did as well. Donald drew his staff while Goofy pulled out his shield. Nettie's Keyblade, the Sunrise, had a white and gold color to it. The main blade resembled streams of light while the teeth were shaped like a rising sun. The handle was white while the guard was golden beams of sunlight. The keychain was also a sun.

In addition to fighting off the Forty Thieves they also had to deal with the elephants. It wasn't easy to do, especially since the Forty Thieves kept ganging up on them. Nettie and Phil kept hitting them with basic melee moves with Goofy while Donald kept unleashing blasts of fire, ice, and lightning upon them. Sora sometimes unleashed some magic upon them. Nettie's biggest fear came when Mabul actually ran out of her satchel.

"Mabul, no!" Nettie tried to get her ferret, but Mabul wanted to help. To everyone's astonishment Mabul tackled one fat thief and actually knocked him to the ground. Nettie then felt exhaustion come inexplicably to her, but she had no time to dwell on that. One elephant was charging into another room where a young man was struggling with an older man over a scepter. The older man jumped onto the elephant while the younger man jumped out of the way.

After the last of the thieves had been driven away and the guests had been escorted out of there everyone was looking at the mess. The entire hall had been totaled, and the wedding was ruined.

"Those Forty Thieves really know how to crash a party." Phil joked.

"This isn't funny. A wedding's been ruined." Nettie said while stroking Mabul.

"Thanks for your help. Things would've been a lot worse if you hadn't shown up." The man they saved from the elephant said.

"No problem, Al," Sora said.

"Hold it. Al? As in Aladdin?" Phil asked.

"You're Aladdin?" Nettie asked.

"This is him. The one, the only, Aladdin!" Genie said. "The hero of Agrabah, with whom your friends Sora, Donald, and Goofy worked with to stop the evil and malicious Jafar twice!" Genie explained.

"Jasmine and I owe you three a lot." Aladdin said.

"And we're so glad that you three have returned, but who are your friends?" Jasmine asked as she joined them.

"I'm Nettie. This is Phil and my ferret Mabul." Nettie said. Mabul then leapt out of Nettie's arms to interact with a monkey and a parrot.

"Long story short, we were kidnapped and Sora's trying to help us get back home." Phil explained.

"These Forty Thieves, I take it they're really bad." Phil said.

"They're the scourge of the desert." Jasmine said. "They've been robbing and stealing from the people for years, but I never thought they'd actually come to Agrabah. Or our wedding."

"I guess something like this was too tempting for them to pass up." Nettie said.

"Hey! Watch the feathers, you weasel!" The parrot said as he flew up and over to them. Nettie saw Mabul had a few feathers in her mouth. The monkey soon followed, speaking in Monkey to explain what happened.

"Abu says you insulted Mabul first, Iago," Aladdin said.

"And your point is?" Iago asked.

"It seemed that guy you were fighting really wanted something you had." Sora said.

"Yeah. The King of Thieves was trying to get this." Aladdin said as he pulled out a gold scepter with a green jewel.

"An entire palace full of treasure and the King of Thieves only wanted this?" Donald asked.

"It's not as valuable as some of the other stuff. Why would they want this thing?" Iago asked as he perched on the scepter.

"Your question is mine to answer!" A mystical female voice said as the scepter floated out of Aladdin's hand and a woman dressed in white robes appeared.

"Whoa…" Sora, Donald, Goofy, Phil, and Nettie said in unison.

"The King of Thieves wanted me to guide him to a treasure." The woman answered.

"Genie, what is she?" Aladdin asked.

"Looks like an oracle, Al," Genie answered.

"What's a door-acle?" Goofy asked.

"Oracle!" Donald corrected him.

"I see things that were, things that are, and things that will be." The oracle answered.

"Oh yeah, definitely an oracle." Genie said.

"You said something about treasure. Tell me, where's the treasure?" Iago asked.

"You've already asked your question." The Oracle answered.

"Aladdin, do you know what this means? We can find out about our future!" Jasmine said.

"And we can find out how to get back home!" Nettie realized.

"Aladdin, aren't you excited?" Sora asked.

"It's just, there's so much I want to know, yet I don't know where to start." Aladdin said.

"Perhaps it would be best to ask your father." The Oracle said, which surprised Aladdin. The Oracle then showed them a man who looked like Aladdin, but with greying hair along the sides. Aladdin was shocked.

"My father's alive?" Aladdin asked. Aladdin then left the room with the scepter on a flying carpet with Abu and Jasmine following. Sora and the others were about to follow him but Genie stopped them.

"Hey guys, I think Al needs a little time alone." Genie said.

It was much later when Jasmine and Aladdin returned to the palace. The sun was setting and everyone had been busy cleaning up the mess. A lot of tension was relieved as they saw the two of them were back.

"Are you okay Aladdin?" Sora asked.

"I am now, and I'm ready to ask the Oracle my question." Aladdin said.

"We have questions, we'd like answered too." Phil said.

"One at a time though." Nettie said.

Raising the scepter up, it floated in front of everyone and the Oracle appeared.

"Have you chosen your question?" The Oracle asked.

"Yes. Where is my father?" Aladdin asked.

"Follow the trail of the Forty Thieves. Your father is trapped within their world." The Oracle answered.

"The Forty Thieves? Is he hurt? How long has he been their prisoner?" Aladdin asked.

"I am sorry. I can only answer one question." The Oracle said.

"Wait, Phil and I have questions too!" Nettie said before the Oracle could vanish.

"Very well. Ask your questions." The Oracle said.

"How was it that Mabul was able to fight off the Forty Thieves earlier today?" Nettie asked.

"Mabul was drawing strength from the power you hold within." The Oracle answered.

"Power within? What do you mean?" Nettie asked.

"I can only answer one question." The Oracle reminded her.

"How do we get back home?" Phil asked.

"You must find the people who abducted you and stop their plans. Once their evil is ended you will be able to return home." The Oracle answered before vanishing.

"So what are you going to do now Aladdin?" Goofy asked Aladdin.

"I'm going after my father." Aladdin answered.

"Take as much time as you need." Jasmine said.

"I'll be back in time for our wedding." Aladdin promised.

"We'll go with you too." Sora said before being stopped by Phil and Nettie.

"I think ours is a different path." Nettie said.

"I know you're willing to come with me, but I have to do this." Aladdin said. "Your friends need you to help them now."

"Okay." Sora agreed.

"We'll be back as soon as we can." Nettie promised.

"Please take these with you." Jasmine said as she handed Sora, Phil, and Nettie green gems. "They may help you."

Back on the Gummi Nettie and Phil were looking at the gems. They didn't seem that special, yet Nettie was glad that Jasmine was thinking of them. Still how could they use these gems? And what did the Oracle mean that Nettie had a power within her?

"If only these things came with instructions." Phil said.

"It's never that easy." Nettie said. As she held the gem to the keychain of her keyblade, something extraordinary happened. The gem attached itself to the keychain, effectively replacing her sun. The keyblade then transformed itself to a new form. The blade was now long and pure gold with three beams of white light forming the teeth. The hilt was a big emerald with the guard now shaped just like the oracle. Nettie and Phil looked at each other with wide eyes.

"That's interesting." Phil said.


	6. What in the Underworld is going on?

Chapter 6: What in the Underworld is going on?

Riku's Group

AJ and Stella were just as fascinated with seeing The Lanes Between as Phil and Nettie were. Well, AJ was not so fascinated with the scenery as Stella was. AJ was always one to fall head over heels whenever he saw a pretty face and he wouldn't take his eyes off the pretty face.

"So why do you think that we were assigned to travel with each other?" AJ asked.

"Because Mickey thought it would be safe if no more than two of us were in each group." Stella answered.

"So why does our group have four members?"

"I was talking about people from our world."

"Oh. Well, of all the people we could've been partnered up with I find it interesting that we were together. Some would consider that fate or destiny." AJ changed the subject.

"Others call it bad luck," Stella said. She may have been beautiful but she was far from shallow.

"Now don't play hard-to-get," AJ teased.

"Why in, or off, the world would I play hard-to-get with the biggest, most arrogant, stuck up, selfish tramp in Netokan?" Stella said. "Don't think I don't know your game. You see some good looking girl, sweep her off her feet, and then ditch her for another pretty face. You have no respect. You have no loyalty. I highly doubt you even have a heart."

"Hey, I'm not a Nobody, you know."

"Okay. Your heart is just rotten then."

AJ would've said more but it was then that an alarm went off. AJ and Stella both hurried to the cockpit where they saw Riku and King Mickey firing away at strange looking ships. It was only when Stella and AJ took a second look that they realized those weren't ships. Those were lots of Heartless.

"Quick, grab the controls near you and help out." Riku ordered as he quickly gestured to the controls. Stella and AJ both grabbed some of the controls and began aiming and clicking. AJ smiled as he blasted some Heartless out of existence. This felt really similar to space games he used to play like _Intergalactic Crisis_. Stella was comfortable using the controls too. She had dabbled in video games before, but not to the extent of people like AJ.

It wasn't long before Stella noted their surroundings took to looking more and more like fluffy clouds, though they were in a vast assortment of shapes and colors. The Heartless seemed to be changing tactics too, using the clouds to duck in and out between attacking them and trying to lure them into traps. Thankfully Riku was not a gullible idiot. He seemed to see their traps coming from a mile away.

After maneuvering through the Heartless and cloudy area they found themselves staring at a world that appeared to mostly be a huge mountain with clouds hiding the top. The base was lined with lots of buildings with huge stone pillars. If Stella had to take a guess she would say these people were master architects.

"What is that place?" AJ asked.

"Olympus Coliseum." King Mickey answered.

"It's a training ground for heroes. Sora told me about it," Riku added.

"Well let's get down there and get training." AJ said.

"Hold it. We're not here to train. We need to find Organization XIII and stop them," Stella reminded him.

"We may have. I sense something's not right down there. We should check it out." Riku said with the confidence of a leader. Everyone knew they were not going to leave until they took care of business.

Olympus Coliseum looked even grander up close than it had from The Lanes Between, as AJ and Stella learned to call the place between the worlds. Many of the buildings were so tall they would've matched the grandness of the skyscrapers of Netokan. Other than being made completely of stone and no sign of electricity anywhere it seemed like the city functioned a lot like Netokan.

What impressed Stella more was how Master Yen Sid's magic had worked. As he said their outfits had now changed to match the togas that seemed to be the primary fashion fad here. Well, only the boys wore togas. Stella was in a dress very similar to what many women were wearing here. The only difference was that the color scheme of their new clothes matched what they had been wearing before.

"I'm so glad no one here has a camera," AJ said as he looked himself over. "I look ridiculous."

"Good. You now have an outfit that matches your brain." Stella said.

"Now's not the time to fight, fellas. We need to find out what's wrong here." King Mickey reminded them.

Some screaming came from the next block. Everyone looked to see a crowd running their direction, fear written on their faces.

"Hey, my adoring public coming for autographs," AJ joked.

"This isn't funny. They're frightened of something." Stella said.

"Then we should check it out." Riku said as he ran opposite of the crowd. Mickey, Stella, and AJ followed him. It wasn't easy when the majority of the people were pushing against you, but they managed.

As they arrived they saw the problem. A lot of Heartless had filled the streets, from the ones that resembled Coach Under when he had been changed to the ones Master Yen Sid had called Shadows.

"Big Bodies and Shadows all over the place!" King Mickey exclaimed as he summoned his Keyblade, which resembled Sora's Kingdom Key except the blade was gold. Stella, AJ, and Riku summoned their keyblades as well. However they weren't the only ones who had come to face the Heartless.

A man dressed in Greek-style armor with the addition of pants also charged into the Heartless. He slashed through the Shadows. However it wasn't long before the Big Bodies began to surround him and crash into him. It was obvious that they'd grind him to dust with their fat bodies unless someone came to help.

Thankfully someone did.

"Get off him!" Riku said as he shot some Dark Fire at the Heartless. One of the Big Bodies was knocked right off its feet. The others turned to see who had attacked them now.

"Hey there Thunder Butts! Over here!" Stella taunted them from the side.

Some of the Big Bodies ran towards her with surprising speed and knocked her into a column. Stella groaned from the pain in her back and front.

"No, over here, Fatsos!" AJ called from another side. "You're just balls with arms and legs!"

That really got their attention. They charged at AJ with surprising speed and knocked AJ to the ground. He tried to slice their stomachs opened with his keyblades, which were the same as Sora and King Mickey's. However that only bounced off their stomachs and left them confused.

"Aim for the backs! That's their weak spot." King Mickey said as he sliced through a Big Body through the back. Sure enough it vanished in a puff of darkness like it was nothing. Stella did notice something fly up, but she had no time to think about it.

Rolling out of the way of the Big Bodies Stella took a few swipes at their backs like Mickey had done. She laughed as she saw the Heartless vanish and the others trying to figure out where she was. She sliced through another before they could turn around.

"Take that, you obese…shades!" AJ said as he sliced through the back of a Big Body. The man they rushed to help also got the message and began attacking from behind the Heartless. This could be seen as literally stabbing someone in the back, but Heartless never play by rules. It wasn't long before the new strategy cleared the Heartless off the street.

"Gosh, are you okay?" Mickey asked the armored man.

"Never better. I would've gotten the jump on those guys before you showed up." The man said. He took off his helm to show he had spikey black hair and blue eyes. "Name's Zack. Who are you?"

"I'm Riku. This is Mickey, Stella, and AJ," Riku introduced everyone. "How long have the Heartless been coming here?"

"Oh, so they're called Heartless, are they?" Zack asked. "They show up wherever there's an entrance to the Underworld."

"The Underworld?" Stella asked.

"The Place of the Dead, the Domain of Hades. Or it was his domain. Everyone knows that." Zack explained. "According to Hercules Hades fell into the river Styx after he and Sora faced him the last time. No one's heard from him since."

"Well, you wouldn't happen to know where we could find the Underworld could ya?" Mickey asked.

"We just want to make sure he didn't swim out of the river." Stella explained.

"Just look for a hole in the ground. It'll take you straight to the Underworld." Zack said. As he answered everyone saw a hole in the middle of the street just a little ways away from them.

"Thanks." Riku said as they walked past Zack towards the hole. As they approached it AJ and Stella looked nervously in. It was pitch black, like the light of day had never shined in there.

"If this leads to a sewer, I swear…" Stella began. Whatever she was going to say was lost because AJ did something Stella never expected him to do.

He descended into the hole. That was shocking to Stella because she expected Riku or King Mickey to take the lead. She didn't expect AJ to make a move like that. She didn't really have time to wonder why because Riku and King Mickey followed him. With a great deal of apprehension Stella followed them.

She was surprised to find stairs awaiting them below. However descending the stairs into the Underworld was the worst. She wasn't sure how she could see, but everywhere was a feeling of darkness, gloom, and hopelessness. The jagged obsidian walls twisted and turned in ways that felt unnatural. She understood why the Heartless would be attracted to such a place. It was evil.

"Gosh, it's kinda chilly down here." Mickey commented. Stella and AJ shivered, not because of the cold but because of the dark feelings. Everything here was horrible, and the stench was worse. It smelled like someone had cracked a room full of rotten eggs and then threw in some week-old dead fish.

"Brimstone." AJ said.

"What?" Stella asked.

"Smells like brimstone." AJ clarified.

"Since when were you such a know-it-all?" Stella asked.

"School. I don't spend my entire time gaming. I do learn and study. I have to if I'm going to go to college."

"The day you're accepted into college is the day I kiss you."

"Sshh!" Riku shushed them. "Look."

Looking ahead of them Stella and AJ saw the bottom of the stairs leading out into an open lobby area. It was who was in there that their attention was attracted to.

Maleficent stood at the edge of the river Styx. Next to her was a large fat black cat in a red and blue jumpsuit. Even though he stood about as tall as Maleficent, if not a little taller, Stella thought he looked ridiculous. There was something about this cat that screamed he was a male.

"Who's Fat Cat?" AJ asked.

"That's Pete!" Mickey said.

"I remember him from The World That Never Was. Looks like he's still causing trouble with his mistress." Riku said.

"It doesn't matter where he is. Pete will always be a troublemaker." Mickey said. "Time and time again I offered him the chance to change and redeem himself, and each time he didn't take it."

"What are they saying?" Stella asked. Even though they had been speaking in whispers, everyone stopped talking so they could hear.

"It was 'cross the river in the Underdrome that Hades fell, My Lady," Pete said. "I tried to convince the river guy to take us across but he refuses."

"Hades will deal with him soon enough." Maleficent said. "Today the Lord of the Dead will rise again!"

"But how? You know what this river does to ya. You'll die before you get anywhere near him!"

"I am immortal, you imbecile! I would be just fine. As fortune smiles upon us I will not need to get my hands wet." As she turned her back to the river, everyone pressed themselves against the wall as best as they could without cutting themselves or allowing them to be seeable. As they watched, they saw Maleficent raise her arms like she was about to cast some curse or summon some Heartless. However she did neither.

"Master, hear me know. We have found the place where lies the Lord of Death. With thy power bring him back so he may serve our purpose!" Maleficent cried out. For a few seconds nothing happened. AJ was about to make some sarcastic remark when they all saw something that made their eyes go wide. The feeling it gave all of them made the feelings they had upon entering the Underworld seem like a nice sunny day at the beach.

The darkness bulged around them until at last the shadows formed an immense dark arm. It was darker than night, darker than black, even darker than darkness. The claws on its fingers made Riku realize it was the same being that had attacked his friends back at the islands. Whatever the arm belonged to it could wrap its arm around several skyscrapers with no problem.

As they watched they saw the arm reach into the river Styx. They were all too far away to see clearly, but according to what AJ and Stella could glimpse it seemed as if the river itself was recoiling in fear of this arm, like it didn't want the limb to touch it. After a few minutes the arm raised itself up with its hand clenched in a fist. It approached the area where Maleficent and Pete were standing. The fist uncurled to release a grey-skinned figure with a black robe and blue fire for hair.

"Ladies and gentlemen, yours truly, Hades, is back!" Hades cried out with his arms raised as if a crowd were watching. As he looked around he noticed Maleficent and Pete standing there. "Well if it isn't my old partners. Maleficent, babe, you are doing excellent. You're definitely a sight not for sore eyes."

"Flattery only gets you so you know." Maleficent replied indifferently. "You know who it was who fished you out of that river?"

"The Old Act. I knew I recognized that feeling." Hades said.

"The Old Act? Who are they talking about?" Stella asked. Her question went unanswered.

"What? Riku and the King are here with two of those brats?" Maleficent asked the unseen master.

"Riku? The little traitor?" Hades asked.

"Traitor? Did you used to work for them?" AJ asked.

"It was a long time ago, and I didn't know who they really were," Riku began explaining. However explaining was going to have to wait.

"So we need these people alive?" Hades asked.

"If our plan is to succeed then yes." Maleficent answered.

"Very well. Cerberus, find the trespassers!" Hades shouted into the darkness. Everyone then felt the ground vibrate violently as if something large and heavy were bounding across it. It was also accompanied by a very deep sound, but none of them could tell whether it was supposed to be a bark or a roar.

"Go! Go!" Riku said. As they hurried back up the stairs they saw a black furred leg appear in the entrance behind then only to be replaced by a large snow filled with huge white fangs. Stella screamed as the fangs snapped shut inches away from her. The panic and dread overtook her and AJ. Without looking back the two of them led the way out of the Underworld.

They had all barely gotten back to the surface before the hole behind them exploded. When the rubble finally stopped falling they got a good look at Cerberus. He was a huge black dog with three heads. Stella didn't know which was more frightening, the tiny red eyes on all three heads or the mouths filled with equally sharp fangs. It looked like something that crawled out of a cat's worst nightmare.

"Oh my gosh!" King Mickey said, which evaluated all their feelings.

"What does that dog eat for breakfast? Dinosaur bones?" AJ asked.

"Right now I think we're on the menu." Riku said as he summoned Way to Dawn. Everyone else summoned their keyblades and prepared to fight.

Needless to say fighting a giant, three-headed dog was hard even when you have it outnumbered. Every footstep Cerberus took caused a small shockwave that kept knocking them back. Stella and AJ kept following King Mickey and Riku in attacking the heads. The only problem was each head kept moving so they usually ended up with a different head than the one they were attacking.

"Go for one head!" King Mickey said as he attacked the head farthest to their left, which would be the right most head of Cerberus.

"Gee, ya think?" Stella asked. Cerberus then shot columns of dark fire into the ground which reappeared underneath them. In addition to being burned Stella was knocked off her feet and her keyblade flew out of her hands. As she laid in a daze she heard the heavy footfalls of Cerberus and saw the three heads look upon her. Despite Riku and King Mickey's attempts to distract the heads Cerberus seemed to have one thing on his mind. Stella put her arms over her head and braced herself to feel those sharp fangs close on her.

The feeling never came. Instead she heard angry barking and snarling above her. Stella peeked through one eye before opening the other. Somehow she was sitting in the middle of a bubble that prevented Cerberus from sinking his fangs into her. Stella wondering how this could've happened, but was surprised to see AJ double his efforts on the monster dog.

Reinforcements soon came to their aid. Zack used Stella's bubble to gain momentum as he sliced some of the whiskers of Cerberus off. Growling in anger, Cerberus turned his attention to the new human who dared challenge him. However Zack seemed to be more than human. He moved with a speed that seemed almost impossible and pulled off maneuvers that didn't seem scientifically possible. If any of you are familiar with the Final Fantasy games you'd know he was using some of his signature moves on Cerberus. However since this is not a video game to them all they saw was Zack and AJ working together to fight Cerberus. Finally the monster collapsed on the ground exhausted and beaten.

"Did we win?" Mickey asked.

"Don't worry. Once Cerberus has enough energy he'll crawl back to the Underworld. See? He's doing it now." Sure enough it was as Zack said. Cerberus was using what energy he had left to return to his home down below.

"Thanks for helping out Zack." Riku said.

"It was fun. Besides, you guys did most of the heavy lifting. I just finished the job." Zack said. "It was also AJ who worked to keep Stella from becoming dog food."

"But she cast the spell," AJ pointed out.

"Yes, a very interesting Barrier spell. Very powerful for a novice." Zack said.

"Ya know, I think I know someone who can tell us more." King Mickey said.

"Great. Where is he?" Zack asked.

"I'm afraid going there will mean we have to say good-bye for now." Mickey said.

"Huh? Why?" Zack asked.

"It's too far away for you to come with us," Mickey explained.

"Oh, you mean to another world." Zack said.

That surprised everyone.

"You know about the other worlds?" Riku asked.

"I know a lot of things. Let me come with. I could be helpful." Zack said.

"He did pull some fancy moves back there." AJ said.

"And you know how to work with others. Still, it's against the rules for us to bring you along." King Mickey said.

Zack thought for a minute. Stella thought he was going to protest and insist he come with them. He seemed like the kind of guy who would do that. In several ways he reminded her of AJ. However it was a surprise when Zack simply smiled and said, "I understand. Good luck with that." As he turned to leave, he looked at Stella.

"What?" Stella asked.

"From the looks of it you've had plenty of surprises today, and not by Cerberus. I say you misjudged your boyfriend over there." Zack said gesturing to AJ.

"My boyfriend? He's not my…" Stella said defensively.

"I know that look. It's the look of when you've misjudged someone." Zack said. With that he finally walked off leaving Stella with some food for thought.


	7. No lion around on the job

Chapter 7: No lion around on the job

The Gummi ship that Axel, Mika, and Roxas were using was experiencing trouble. Not only were Heartless attacking in the Lanes Between, but the last two members of their group were in chaos. Jason and Aurora seemed more interested in fighting each other than the Heartless. It was giving the other three quite the headache.

"Will you two knock it off already? We've got bigger problems than your issues!" Axel yelled at them.

"Well don't blame me! It's all knucklehead's fault!" Aurora said.

"Me? At least I'm not the one whose people started a war!" Jason snapped back at her.

"And just how many wars since have your people started since?"

"There were power mad dictators rising in those countries just like they did in yours!"

"Trigger-happy nut job!"

"Superstitious traditionalist!"

You can probably imagine how chaotic the entire trip has been. The two of them would've probably used the weapons controls on each other if they could've. Roxas wasn't sure what was worse, getting attacked by the Heartless or listening to those two. Being without a heart made it difficult to feel emotion, yet physical pain was not exempt from Nobodies. Right now Roxas had a giant-sized headache.

Axel was not much better. He had the job of piloting the ship and the constant arguing was driving him nuts. As if trying to deal with all the weird stuff wasn't enough. Now he could understand why dads hated road trips.

"Are you two still at it?" Mika asked as she walked into the cockpit. She had slipped out to change into something more comfortable, and to get away from Jason and Aurora's arguing. Now she was back in a white tunic with a reddish-pink short skirt and dark blue pants. The tops of her boots were light blue while the rest of them were dark red.

"They've been at it ever since we took off!" Axel shouted while turning the wheel to move the Gummi out of the way of a torpedo-shaped Heartless.

"If a certain somebody would stop correcting me on how to use these stupid things…" Jason started.

"Come on, you jerk the control so hard you'll yank it out!" Aurora retorted.

"Enough! Give me those!" Mika ordered as she took the controls away from Jason and Aurora. "Roxas, you and I will handle the Heartless." She said as she tossed him the controller used by Jason. Jason and Aurora started to protest, but Mika just held out her hand as if to say "I don't want to hear it." However she curled her fingers and seats appeared behind the two teenagers. Before they could say anything they found themselves seated and strapped in, unable to do anything but watch, for Mika had also caused the chairs to strap their mouths shut.

Mika and Roxas worked better than Jason and Aurora did. They didn't let a single Heartless get away from them. Jason and Aurora had let several get away because of their bickering, but the change at the controls left no stragglers around.

"That's much better." Axel said once they were clear of the Heartless. It was then that the straps around Jason and Aurora's mouths were removed. They were about to protest but a raised finger from Mika silenced them.

"What you two are doing isn't good for either of you. The Heartless are attracted to darkness in hearts, and your little feud is attracting them like vultures to a carcass. If you want to keep your hearts where they belong I suggest you shape up and stop fighting." Mika told them.

"Telling Jason not to fight is like telling the sun not to shine." Aurora said.

Jason just turned his head. He didn't want to talk to these people. He had no reason to explain or justify his actions. They weren't his parents. Not that he'd talk to his parents anyway.

"Maybe our time in this world will help you two to figure yourselves out." Axel said.

The world they found themselves in was Olympus Coliseum. They too weren't at the coliseum part of this world. They found themselves in the main city, in the exact area where the group from the last chapter found themselves in. Right at this moment that group was entering in the Underworld. Unfortunately the peace was about to be broken again, though not by Heartless or Nobodies.

"Is this someone's idea of a joke?" Jason complained rather loudly as he looked at his clothes. A red and blue toga had replaced his shirt and pants and he was wearing sandals instead of shoes.

"If it is, I like it." Aurora said. She was now in a blue and black dress that she felt was the common fashion in this world. Normally she wouldn't be caught dead in such attire. However Jason being humiliated in his new clothes made it all worthwhile.

"I don't remember seeing this part of the world before," Roxas said, not at all bothered by the black and white toga he wore.

"You probably were never sent on assignment to this specific area. Got it memorized?" Axel asked. He was completely indifferent to his new toga, which strangely was red and brown instead of black like his cloak.

"I really don't want to go parading around in this curtain!" Jason said.

"First, we need these outfits to blend in. Second, as much as I would really like it to, it's not going to kill you to try a new outfit." Aurora said.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in." A familiar voice said. Everyone looked around for the source but saw no one. That is until some crystal-like projectile embedded itself in the ground beside them. They turned to see a member of Organization XIII standing on the roof of a building next to them.

"Xigbar," Axel named the man.

"You know, you kids really made a mistake not doing the job we gave you. We're really disappointed in you. I mean, was it really that hard to kill one keyblade-wielding kid? I know people who could've done it blind," Xigbar said.

"You done yet, Gramps?" Jason asked, his voice full of insult.

"Far from it. Now I'm going to show you and your girlfriend what happens when you cross the Organization." Xigbar said. Jason and Aurora were unanimous in denying that they liked each other. However Xigbar didn't care. Raising his arrowguns at the two teens, he prepares to shoot. However two flaming chakrams fly his way and Xigbar is forced to jump out of their way. Axel, Mika, and Roxas all land on the roof with their weapons drawn. Jason and Aurora saw that Mika had another keyblade with her light colored one. This one was black with a jagged crescent moon for the teeth. The handle was also black with a black circle joined by a bluish gem with bright blue wings forming the guard. The keychain token was a turquoise crescent moon.

"Three against one seems a little unfair. How about I even up the odds?" Xigbar suggested as several Nobodies appeared behind him. These in a way resembled Xibgar except they were purple in color. They also kept folding themselves over to take on the shape of Xigbar's arrowguns.

"You never get tired of the Snipers, do you?" Mika asked.

"Tired? As if." Xigbar said. "I think the people of this world would enjoy the excitement the Snipers can give them. Boys, go have some fun." With that order several snipers flew off into the town.

"Jason, Aurora, stop the snipers. We'll handle Xigbar." Axel ordered them.

"Hey, why do I have to work with her?" Jason protested.

"Just come on!" Aurora pulled Jason after the Nobodies by his hair.

It was in the heart of the city that Jason and Aurora were speechless. Sure everyone was dressed in togas and were riding around in chariots pulled by these strange animals and the buildings were all of the same design and made from stone, but other than that the city strongly reminded them of Netokan.

And they knew that there was bound to be more trouble than just Xigbar and his Snipers.

"Too many places to hide, and too many people for us to engage with the Nobodies directly," Jason said as he looked around.

"How can we just lose flying, purple, gun-folding monsters in a city? It's not like they blend in with the crowd." Aurora said.

"And we do?" Jason asked. Even though they were in fashion Netokan was a live-action world. Some people cast strange glances in their direction.

"Let's just find the creeps and get out of here." Aurora said.

"There!" Jason pointed to a Sniper flying up a column. "If I didn't leave my blaster back home I could take him down from here."

"Never mind that now. Just get him!" Aurora said. She summoned her Fantasy Warrior keyblade and charged after the Nobody. People parted at the sight of Aurora with her drawn weapon. Jason summoned his Born Fighter keyblade and followed after her.

The Sniper folded itself into the arrowgun form and began to fire at them. Jason and Aurora dodged out of the way to avoid getting shot. Jason tried to climb up after the Nobody, but he kept sliding back down. Aurora would've enjoyed the sight if she wasn't busy trying to find some way to get to it herself. The Sniper kept firing at them, forcing them to keep backing up. Aurora soon found herself with her back to a building. Nowhere to hide, and the Sniper was about to fire again.

As it fired something strange happened. Aurora couldn't explain it, but it was like she could see the projectile coming her way in slow motion. She readied herself with the Fantasy Warrior in hand. As it neared her, Aurora swung her keyblade with all her might. What would've been her death was turned back and hit the Sniper right where its heart would've been. It vanished into a white light.

"There's another!" Jason pointed one out just above Aurora. She repeated the same tactic and got the same result. "How are you doing that?" Jason asked.

"My secret." Aurora said as she ran to a Sniper looking for a place to take position. Jason noticed the area seemed to be getting deserted but he had no time to dwell on that. There was no way he was going to let Aurora get all the Nobodies. Unfortunately she got to the third one first and took it out.

"Only two more," She said as she looked around.

"How do you know?" Jason asked.

"Unlike you, I took the time to count them." She replied. "There's number four." She said as she charged towards some pots where a Sniper was folding itself up. Jason looked around and saw the last one at a building's corner.

"You're mine!" Jason said as he charged towards the Sniper. He didn't make it halfway across the plaza before a large brown paw stepped on the Nobody. Jason looked up in shock. The paw belonged to a large brown lion with a black mane. He didn't know what this thing was, but he could tell it was hungry for him.

"Aurora!" Jason called out. She looked up from among the broken pots to see the lion advancing on Jason. She actually considered walking away and letting the creature eat him. Helping Mika, Axel, and Roxas would've been a legitimate excuse.

"Go and help him." A voice said. Aurora looked around, but didn't see anyone. The person sounded really close but there was no one except her and Jason. The lion was upon Jason, who was now attacking its massive paws. Letting out an exasperated sigh, Aurora charged across the plaza to help him.

Jason was hacking away at the paw like no tomorrow. As long as he stayed under the creature it couldn't get him. He really hoped it wouldn't get the idea to lie down on top of him. That would so make this day worse than it already was.

"I take out four Nobodies and you can't handle one overgrown cat?" She asked as she started hacking away at another paw.

"Those guys kept flying out of the way and were a lot smaller than this thing!" Jason said. The lion then pounced, landing away from the two annoying morsels attacking its paws. Before they could regroup the lion charged at them, mouth open to devour the two of them. However before it could eat them someone punched the side of its head, knocking it off its paws and sending it crashing away from Jason and Aurora.

"Are you two okay?" Their rescuer asked. He was a man who looked to be about one or two years, maybe three, older than AJ. He had light brown hair and was incredibly buff. He was also dressed in what looked like an armored tunic with a blue cape.

"Just fine. We had that cat." Jason said.

"Except where the Nemean Lion almost ate you." The man said. He took a step back as a paw came crashing down where he had been standing. The Nemean Lion slowly rose, growling and looking at them angrily.

"Jason, now isn't the time to argue." Aurora said. Rolling his eyes, Jason turned and the three of them focused on the Nemean Lion. Taking down this lion was easier said than done as it kept leaping away to unleash a powerful pounce on all three of them. It also kept swiping at them several times doing massive amounts of damage. Twice it almost swallowed Jason, and he had to use what he had to keep himself on the other side of the fangs. Jason may not seem like a lot, but if there was one thing he knew it was how to survive.

Aurora kept surveying the area. She noticed that where the Nemean Lion had come from there were a lot of wrecked buildings. She noticed a large block of rubble at the base of one building. She wished she could levitate it over. Then it hit her. Looking at her keyblade, she remembered what people had said about it being an item of great power. Now seemed like a good time to test that theory.

Pointing her keyblade at the rubble, Aurora focused all her mental energy on that block moving. She squinted her eyes in her attempt to get it to work. However nothing seemed to be happening.

"Look out!" Aurora heard Jason call out. She turned to see the Nemean Lion taking another swipe at her. She dove to the side to escape those huge claws, and swung her keyblade at the same time. It was then that she saw the rubble block zoom all the way over to their position, hitting the Nemean Lion on the head. The lion wobbled for a few seconds before crashing down in front of them. She was fairly certain that it was dead.

"I can't believe I'm about to say this, but thanks for your help." Jason said to the man.

"That's what heroes do. We help people." The man said.

"You're a hero?" Aurora asked.

"Yep. I'm Hercules by the way." Hercules introduced himself.

Jason raised an eyebrow. "What kind of a name is Hercules?" He asked.

Aurora slugged Jason for that. "The name of the guy who just kept you from becoming kitty chow!" She said before explaining to Hercules, "Jason's a thickhead. Doesn't respect anyone but himself."

"I only respect people who earn it." Jason said. "Aurora is Miss High-and-Mighty…"

Aurora slapped him. "I am not!"

"You two do have a lot of potential. However if you keep fighting with each other like this you'll never become heroes." Hercules said.

That got their attention. "Heroes?" They asked in unison.

"That's why most people come to this city nowadays. They all have hopes and dreams of becoming true heroes. Phil had to close the coliseum so he could narrow down the list. You should see him. He might train you." Hercules explained.

Jason and Aurora stood there taking his offer into consideration. Both of them looked as if the idea appealed to them. Well, maybe Jason more than Aurora. She was never one to try out for anything.

"We'll think about it." Jason said.

"Well, be sure to head to the coliseum if you decide to," Hercules said as he began to walk off.

"Jason! Aurora!" They heard a familiar voice call out to them. They turned to see Axel, Mika, and Roxas coming towards them.

"You two okay?" Mika asked.

"Things could be better if Jason got eaten by that lion we fought." Aurora said.

"Come on. You had the easy job!" Jason argued.

"That's no excuse."

"Well the next time you're taking on some monster I may just turn a blind eye!"

"Don't you always?"

"I think we're going to need to get them separated A.S.A.P." Mika whispered to Axel.

"I've got that memorized." Axel said.


	8. News at Twilight

Chapter 8: News at Twilight

At Disney Castle things were going relatively peaceful. Queen Minnie was able to keep things running with her longtime friend Daisy. Both of them wished that Mickey, Donald, and Goofy didn't have to leave all the time. However they knew how evil people like Maleficent could be, and with Pete working for her that spelled more trouble.

"Do you think their doing okay?" Daisy asked her queen.

Minnie nodded. "I know they are. The three of them have accomplished a lot in the past, and with friends like Sora there's nothing they can't do."

Daisy nodded. "Whatever is going on in the worlds they'll be able to stop it. I just wish they would tell us more before they just leave." Daisy said.

"Well they have their reasons. We just have to believe they've told us what we need to know." Minnie said.

Meanwhile Pluto was lying in his bed in the library. Pluto had been on his own adventures before, but this time all he wanted was sleep. He had more than enough excitement to last him a while.

Pluto's nose twitched. His content smile turned to a frown as he opened his eyes. He had learned to smell darkness, and he was picking up a lot of it. But who would come to the castle?

As Pluto continued to sniff, he saw someone in a black cloak standing in front of the bookshelf. Pluto growled. He knew this was someone from Organization XIII. He never met all of them, so he didn't have their smells memorized. Regardless they always smelled of trouble.

The person turned around. Pluto couldn't see under the hood, but something told him the person wasn't even intimidated by him. The last thing Pluto saw was a wave of darkness coming towards him.

The last group to depart from the Mysterious Tower had a relatively peaceful flight. Clair and Ashley did take time to look at their surroundings, but they also enjoyed talking with Kairi. It turns out the three of them had a lot in common. All of them enjoyed reading and taking in the scenery.

"So this is the first time that you've actually gone exploring other worlds on your own?" Clair asked.

"Sora and Riku are usually called off on an adventure to save them, and I've had to wait for them." Kairi explained.

"Must be hard to have your friends go off like that." Ashley said.

"It is. But I know they will always come back home." Kairi answered.

"So how long have you wielded a keyblade?" Clair asked.

Kairi said, "About a year. Sora and Riku have been training me to use it, though I'm not sure either of them understand theirs. Especially Sora."

"Something so mysterious and we're just given them by some psychos in black. Why?" Clair wondered out loud.

"We'll find out when we stop them." Ashley said before turning her attention to outside the window. "We've got a world coming up." She said causing the other two to turn their attention towards the window.

"It's Twilight Town!" Kairi recognized the place. "I remember this place."

"You've been here before?" Ashley asked.

"A long time ago." Kairi answered.

"It does look pretty calm. We should check it out." Clair said.

The three of them found themselves in Market Street, just outside of Station Plaza. Clair and Ashley looked behind them to see a large clock tower with two bells sticking out from the sides like elaborate earrings. They could hear trams rolling on by. It wasn't as advanced as Netokan, but it seemed a lot nicer.

"This is a nice place. I wouldn't mind living here." Clair admitted.

"Well we're not her to house hunt." Ashley reminded her, though deep down she felt the same way.

"Kairi? Is that you?" A voice called down the street. They looked to see a girl close to their age with peach-colored skin and brown hair dressed in an orange tank top with khaki-style capri pants. Kairi's eyes widened with recognition.

"Olette! Is that you?" She asked as they ran and embraced each other.

"It's been so long Kairi. Hayner, Pence, and I were worried when that guy dragged you off." Olette said.

"I'm fine. Sora found me."

"Somehow I knew he would."

"So who's you're friend?" Clair asked.

Kairi stepped back so she could better introduce everyone. "Clair, Ashley, this is Olette. Olette, these two are Ashley and Clair."

"Hello." Olette said to them.

"It's nice to meet you." Ashley replied.

"What brings you back to Twilight Town?" Olette asked.

"I wanted to see how you, Hayner, and Pence were doing." Kairi said.

"We're doing great. They'll be so excited to see you," Olette said as she started leading them down the street. They didn't go far before they turned and entered into a back alley that led to a dead end behind a chain-linked fenced gate.

This place had been furnished to be some sort of shabby living room. There was still water in the ground and a couple of couches upon which sat two boys. One had spikey blonde hair and was dressed in baggy camouflage pants with a grey sleeveless vest and a black sleeveless shirt with skull and crossbones on it. The other was a little obese with black hair held up with a black headband. He was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt under a red jersey and blue pants.

"Hayner! Pence! Guess who I ran into." Olette said as she brought Kairi, Clair, and Ashley into the place.

The blond haired boy sat up with a start as he saw Kairi. "Kairi? What are you doing here?" He asked.

"You're alright!" The heavyset boy said with a smile on his face.

"It's good to see you two again, Hayner, Pence," Kairi said. "Have things been okay since I was last here?"

"We haven't seen any creeps in black if that's what you mean." Hayner answered. "If not, Seifer's still the same."

Ashley said, "Then I guess there's no point in us staying here,"

"No, there isn't." Said a cold voice behind them. They turned to see a man with long blond hair and cold green eyes dressed in the familiar black cloak.

"Who are you, Creepy?" Clair asked.

"You may know me as Vexen," The man introduced himself.

"You're with those Organization creeps, aren't you?" Hayner asked.

"Gee, I wonder what gave it away." Ashley said sarcastically.

Vexen scoffed. "Such disrespect for your elders. Especially after we offered to do you and your friends a favor in exchange for helping us." He said.

"We learned you wouldn't have kept your promise, and the kind of people Organization XIII really are." Ashley said.

"You haven't learned anything about us yet, but you will." Vexen said as he vanished into a dark corridor.

"I thought for a second that we were going to have to fight him." Clair said.

"What did he mean by they offered to do you something for you?" Pence asked.

"Organization XIII took us from our home, and they promised to send us back if we helped them." Ashley explained.

"Sora, Riku, and I helped them see through the Organization's lies." Kairi added.

"So you're not with those creeps anymore, right?" Olette asked.

"I'd sooner kiss a rat." Ashley said.

"We're going to have to go. If the Organization's here we need to find out why." Kairi said.

"We'll go with you." Hayner said. The look on his face said he was not going to be talked out of this. The six of them headed back out to Market Street and headed down to Tram Common. No sooner had they arrived than they encountered a large bird-like Nobody with the Nobody insignia on it's chest. The feathers looked as if they were made of icicles. A cold air seemed to be coming from its beak.

"Whoa," Clair and Ashley said in unison.

"Hayner, Pence, Olette, you'd better leave this to us." Kairi said. The three friends hurried off while Kairi, Ashley, and Clair got ready to fight the Nobody. All three girls summoned their keyblades.

"So anyone have any ideas on how to beat a giant, creepy Icebird?" Clair asked, unintentionally naming the Nobody.

"Hit it with fire?" Ashley suggested.

"Fire!" Kairi said as she cast the Fire spell, shooting a ball of fire at the bird. The Nobody cried out in pain. Evidently it didn't like heat. However now it was on the offensive. The Icebird flapped its wings and sent icicles flying their way.

"Look out!" Kairi said as she cast a spell that created a force field of sorts around all three of them, blocking the icicles.

"Think you could teach me some of those spells?" Clair asked.

"Later. For now we need to concentrate." Kairi said. The Icebird flew up and circled over them, creating clouds and causing the weather to start hailing. After managing to dodge the chunks of ice the Icebird swooped down low, its breath freezing the ground, and Clair and Kairi's feet to the ground.

Ashley managed to dodge out of the bird. Before it could get up high again Ashley jumped onto the bird's back. As they rose Ashley began to attack the Icebird with all her might. She could tell she was really hurting it with her keyblade, but it wasn't as cool as the spells Kairi had casted. "_If only I thought to ask to learn magic_," Ashley thought to herself.

The Icebird suddenly pitched downward. Ashley grabbed on to its back to keep from falling off. The Icebird crashed into Tram Common and Ashley ended up flying off its back. Kairi and Clair, who were now free from the ice, ran forward and began to slash at the Icebird with their keyblades. Kairi kept casting the Fire Spell at the Icebird, which looked like was actually melting the Nobody.

The Icebird then began to shudder, and the three of them realized it was recovering. Clair and Ashley jumped onto its back as it began to fly up again, and continued their attacks. Things seemed to go faster this time than they had before.

"I don't think our parents would like to see us doing this," Clair joked while attacking.

"Probably not." Ashley agreed as the Icebird started to fall down. As the two girls jumped off, Kairi pointed her keyblade to the darkened sky.

"Thunder!" She cried out as a bolt of lightening came down from the sky and struck the Icebird. The Nobody cried out and shuddered violently. Clair and Ashley prepared themselves for more action, but it didn't happen. The Icebird flew up and then faded away in streams of white.

"Is that it?" Ashley asked, a little disappointed.

"That's it." Kairi confirmed.

"That was stronger than the Dusks. Are there more like that?" Clair asked.

Kairi nodded. "From what I've heard from Sora and Riku, yes."

It was then they heard a soft whine. The three of them looked down a neighboring street to see a yellow dog with black ears and a tail lying on the ground. It didn't match any species Clair or Ashley were familiar with.

"Pluto!" Kairi said as she ran up to the dog. She knelt beside Pluto and looked him over. Clair and Ashley could tell Kairi knew this dog.

"Heal!" The two of them saw Kairi cast another spell that caused a flower to bloom over Pluto. As the petals fell, Pluto's eyes opened and he began to run around full of energy. Clair and Ashley both decided they needed to learn these spells.

"Kairi! Clair! Ashley!" Olette said as she ran up to them. "You'd better come quick. We found something you might want to see."

As they followed Olette down the street they found themselves at the Sandlot, where the town commonly held their Struggle Tournaments. Struggle, for those who are not familiar, is a sport played in this world. However Hayner and Pence were not hiding behind a corner because a game was going on. As Kairi, Ashley, Clair, and Pluto arrived with Olette, they saw several familiar figures standing there talking.

"So it seems the little peasants learned the truth about our plans," Maleficent said as she stroked a raven on her shoulder.

"Now they work with the Keyblade's Chosen, The King, and the others instead of against them," Xemnas said.

"Then I think it's time we move on to some of our other plans. Vexen has created Heartless and Nobodies that have never been seen before." Said a man who looked a lot like Xemnas, except his hair was smoother.

"Yes. No matter what side they choose, all will still go as we have foreseen." Maleficent said.

Everyone ducked back into the street.

"Who was that lady?" Pence asked.

"Maleficent. She's a powerful sorceress who's been causing trouble for a long time," Kairi explained.

"I recognized Xemnas, but who was the other guy? His twin brother?" Ashley asked.

Kairi shook her head. "That was Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness. He's Xemnas's Heartless." She explained.

"His Heartless?" Clair explained.

"If he's back along with Organization XIII…"Kairi's voice trailed off. "We need to warn the others."

"They're gone." Hayner said as he peeked around the corner again. Sure enough the Sandlot was deserted.

"I'm sorry. We need to get going." Kairi explained to the gang from Twilight Town.

"We understand. We'll keep an eye on things here and let you know if we find anything." Hayner promised.

"Thank you so much." Kairi said.

Soon, the three of them were on their way again with the addition of Pluto. The mood in the Gummi had turned serious because of what all three of them had learned.

"So any idea where the others are right now?" Clair asked.

"According to the ship, the others should be getting close to Radiant Garden. We'll meet them there." Kairi said as she piloted the ship towards the world.

"Xemnas and Ansem being together isn't the only thing troubling you isn't it?" Ashley asked.

Kairi shook her head. "I know we suspected that Maleficent was working with Organization XIII, but to see it's true is just shocking. I've seen them before, and they aren't the best of friends." She said.

"Looks like they've found a common enemy to unite themselves against." Clair said.

"That's why we need to warn the others." Kairi said. It was then that the ship started rocking violently. Alarms flashed as everyone grabbed a hold of their seats.

"What's going on?" Ashley asked, panic in her voice.

"I don't know!" Kairi answered.


	9. Dangers in the Shadows, Part 1

**I would've tried to get this chapter up sooner, but I had homework and tests to do, and I was visiting with family and friends over the weekend. I apologize that this chapter is shorter than the others, but I don't want to drag a chapter out longer than I need to. **

Chapter Nine: Dangers in the Shadows, Part 1

Vexen sat on his throne waiting impatiently. Xemnas rarely left their stronghold, and when he did such trips were short. Today he seemed to be taking his time. He was actually starting to drum his fingers like Axel sometimes did when he was waiting for something.

Finally Vexen saw the sight he had been waiting for. A dark portal opened on the highest throne, and when the darkness cleared Xemnas was seated there as if he had never left.

"Did you find it?" Xemnas asked.

Vexen pulled out a red book from his sleeve. "From Disney Castle, right where you said it would be." Vexen tossed the book to his master, who looked at it and smiled.

"Excellent. I truest the queen was no problem." Xemnas said.

"She never noticed. I did have to put their mutt out of its misery." Vexen's voice was emotionless.

"And the Icebird?"

"Released into Twilight Town like you ordered."

"Good." No sooner had Xemnas said this than the room shook violently. Vexen gripped the arms of his throne to keep himself from falling off. Even Xemnas seemed genuinely surprised at this. It continued for a few minutes before it stopped.

"What happened? Last time I checked this world didn't have earthquakes." Vexen asked.

"Something we will have to investigate." Xemnas said.

While Xemnas and Vexen were discussing Organization business the four groups were experiencing the shaking in their gummi ships. Sora was trying to keep the ship under control with Donald while Goofy was holding on to his chair for dear life. Nettie was hugging Mabul while Phil was trying to regain his footing.

"What's going on?" Nettie asked while making sure Mabul didn't fly out of her arms.

"That's what I was going to ask!" Donald shouted. He also started saying things to the controls that no one could understand. Nettie had a feeling that even though Donald was having a tantrum he wasn't swearing.

"We should make sure everyone else is okay!" Goofy said.

Sora without a word pressed a button next to a little screen. The image of Kairi flickered onscreen, though from what he could see in the background and on her face they were experiencing similar problems as well.

Kairi's face changed from concern to surprise. "Sora?" She asked.

"Kairi, are you okay?" Sora asked.

"Apart from the ship rocking out of control, fine." She replied. It was at this point that the shaking seemed to cease. It didn't vanish all together, but it did ease up to where things went back to normal.

"So you experienced all that too?" Sora asked.

"I'm pretty sure that's what she said, genius." Ashley said from the background.

It was then that Riku's face popped up on screen as well. "Sora? Kairii? Does anyone read me?"

"We're here Riku. What's wrong?" Kairi asked.

"We felt the Gummi shake so hard we thought it was going to break."

"Same here! We experienced the same thing!" Sora said.

"Is everyone in your groups still there?" Riku asked.

Sora and Kairi nodded, both with raised eyebrows. "Why do you ask?" Kairi asked.

"When we did a head count, we were short one AJ." Riku said.

"What?" Everyone on two gummi ships asked in unison.

"AJ's missing?" Clair asked in the background.

"Duh!" Ashley said. Nettie was sure she was rolling her eyes too.

It was then that Axel's image appeared on the screen. "Is everyone alright?" He asked.

"We're fine, but AJ's missing!" Sora replied.

"Axel, do you think this is the work of the Organization?" Riku asked.

"Offhand I want to say yes, but I've never known Xemnas for being able to do something like this." Axel said.

"That reminds me. We have information about Organization XIII!" Kairi said.

"Better save it for later. If the Organization is behind this, then we should probably wait until we're all in person to say it." Jason's voice called out from behind Axel.

"How close is everyone to Radiant Garden?" Without waiting for an answer Axel said, "Let's meet up there and then have our little chat. Got it memorized?" With a groan that everyone was sure had to be Jason Axel's picture flicked off.

"There it is. I'll see you down there." Riku said before closing communications.

Sora then looked up to see his ship had also arrived at Radiant Garden as well. "We've arrived too. We'll meet with the others and then hear what's been going on." Sora explained to Kairi, who looked a little concerned with having to wait longer, but she nodded in agreement before closing communications.

Radiant Garden, despite having about three years of reconstruction, showed little progress. The stalls in the marketplace were nicer, and the buildings looked a little more permanent. The main castle, however, was still being repaired and looked as if little to no work had been done on it. Evidently even with the technological levels of this world castles took time to build.

Sora and his group was waiting in the middle of the open square with Donald, Goofy, Nettie, and Phil. Nettie was holding Mabul in her arms and stroking her gently. It wasn't long before Riku, King Mickey, and Stella appeared in front of them. Riku appeared to be serious as usual, though he also appeared concerned. King Mickey didn't hold back any emotions. Everyone could tell he was concerned. Kairi, Clair, Ashley and Pluto there as well followed shortly thereafter Axel, Mika, Roxas, Jason, and Aurora. Mickey, Donald, and Goofy's eyes went wide when they saw the dog was with the last group. Pluto wasted no time running up to his longtime friends and licking their faces.

Axel quickly counted heads before saying, "You weren't kidding. AJ really is M.I.A,"

"One second he was there, the next he wasn't," Stella said.

"Maybe we'd better get a full report of what's been goin' on with everyone." Mickey suggested.

"What do you think we're doing? Smelling the flowers?" Jason asked.

"He means from our record keepers, ya big palooka!" Donald snapped at him.

Jason balled his fists and glared at the duck. "What did you call me?" he asked.

"What do you mean record keepers?" Clair asked.

Mika raised an eyebrow. "Don't you remember? Master Yen Sid asked us to keep a record of our journey so we can get an idea of what's going on in the universe, and something about making sure the future knew of our adventures," she explained.

"Each group must've someone to take notes about where they've been an' who they've met," Goofy added.

"He probably wasn't paying attention at that part." Ashley suggested. It was true. Jason's mind had wandered off during that explanation. Not that he'd ever admit it.

"Fine. So who was writing about our adventure?" Jason asked.

Roxas pulled out a little book and said, "I was. I used to keep a journal back when I was with Organization XIII—"

"You used to work for those creeps?" Ashley asked.

Axel smiled. "Yep. Number XIII."

"Anyway fellas, I was keeping track of our journey. See?" Mickey changed the subject as he pulled out a red book with his royal crest, the Mickey Mouse symbol, on it.

Clair looked down as if she was ashamed. "Well, I've always kept a diary back home. I figured I may as well continue to do so here." She admitted as she pulled out a small white book with a lime green border.

"And I kept up with being royal chronicler." Said a voice that no one could see. Everyone from Netokan looked around, but they saw no one unfamiliar.

"Alright who's there?" Aurora asked as she got into a kung fu stance.

The voice called out again, "Over here." They looked to see it had come from Sora, who was pointing to his shoulder. The Netokan teens took a closer look to see a small figure was standing on Sora's shoulder. The figure had an oval-shaped head with big eyes. He was dressed in a white shirt with a reddish-orange vest, tan pants, big yellow shoes similar to Mickey's or Sora's, and had a light blue top hat with an orange stripe and a red umbrella that he carried with him. The figure took of his hat and made a polite bow before adding, "Cricket's the name. Jiminy Cricket."

Jason raised an eyebrow. "You've been traveling with a bug this entire time?" he asked.

"Jiminy's a good friend of mine," Sora said.

"What was it that you needed to tell us, Kairi?" Mika asked.

"Oh." Kairi remembered before continuing, "While we were in Twilight Town we found Maleficent talking with Xemnas and Ansem," that last comment earned several gasps.

"Ansem's back too?" Riku asked.

"Who's Ansem?" Stella asked.

"He's Xemnas's Heartless." Donald answered.

"Worse, it sounds like the three of them are working together." Kairi said. Everyone exclaimed "What?" at that statement.

"That's impossible. The three of them hate each other," Riku said.

"Yet it's true." Ashley said. We saw them together and plotting together. It sounds like they've got something really bad planned."

"Duh," Aurora said while rolling her eyes.

"So now what?" Clair asked.

"We need to let the Restoration Committee know what's happened." Sora said.

"Uh, what about the 'Do-not-let-people-know-other-worlds-exist' rule?" Stella asked while impersonating Master Yen Sid's voice rather poorly.

"They know about all that," Goofy said.

"I don't know about you, but I'm going to get something to eat," Jason said as he turned and started walking away.

"Uh, we need to stay together," Sora said.

"Good riddance. He's been giving me a headache since we left the Mysterious Tower," Axel said.

"I'll go after him." Riku said as he followed after Jason.

"I guess we'll all go take care of different things now. I'll go with ya Sora to the Restoration Committee," King Mickey said.

"Great!" Donald and Goofy said in unison.

Soon everyone was moving off in different groups through Radiant Garden.

**Well there you have it. I hope I got all the characters right. I'm also not sure how to do the comments at the beginning and end of a chapter on this website so I'm putting them in with the chapter submission until I can figure out how to make them separate. **


	10. Dangers in the Shadows, Part 2

**Sorry it took a while to get this chapter up. I wasn't sure how to work it out. I hope I did a good job with the Final Fantasy characters in this submission. Oh, and Antex, to answer your question the shaking they experienced will be explained later on in the story.**

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Chapter Ten: Dangers in the Shadows Part 2

Jason was once again in a bad mood. He had been searching throughout the entire city for a place to grab a bite, and after five blocks of searching he still had not found anywhere that sold food.

"What do people do here, grow their own food?" he asked himself. He didn't know how people could live without the modern conveniences of Netokan. It was completely barbaric. At least have wrist coms. Speaking of which, why wasn't his working? They were designed to work anywhere on Harthyn.

Jason was so focused on his own problems he failed to notice that someone seemed interested in watching him. The person remained hiding in the shadows preparing to strike when both the figure and Jason heard Riku calling Jason's name. The figure frowned as it saw Riku walk up to Jason.

Jason glared at him. "If you're planning on dragging me back there, you can forget it," he said.

Riku held up his hands. "Take it easy. I wasn't following you for that. I'm following you to keep you safe," he explained.

Jason turned his back to Riku. "I can take care of myself," he said defensively.

"I don't doubt you. I just know how strong the Organization really is, and if you're not ready for them they will take you down." Riku warned.

Jason snorted. "And I take it your solution is to have someone hold my hand?"

"You're not much a team player are you?" A new voice asked. Riku and Jason turned, and Riku actually seemed surprised to see the speaker was a familiar face.

"Zack? What are you—how did you get here?" he asked. He noticed Zack's attire maintained the same color scheme though it had changed to match what a lot of people wore in this world.

Zack smiled. "I followed you here."

"But how?"

"When we parted ways I followed you and your friends and then there was this weird light and I found myself in the strangest place, and well, here we are." Zack answered.

"So much for not letting others know other worlds exist," Jason whispered behind his hand to Riku. Riku ignored him.

"Zack, you don't understand what you've gotten yourself into. We need to take you back," Riku started to say.

Zack frowned. "Back? No way. I want to help you guys, and I think I kind of like it here. Wherever here is." He said as he looked around.

Jason shivered unexpectedly. The temperature suddenly felt unnatural cold. He started to look around, and saw something that caused him to look and feel worried. If something can do that to Jason it doesn't take a genius to tell it's really bad.

"Get down!" Jason said as he shoved Riku and Zack so hard and unexpectedly that they all fell to the ground with a thud. It was a good thing he did so because a long thin blade whooshed over them. The three of them looked up to see their assailant for the first time, and it was a face none of them would ever forget.

The assailant was a man with long silver hair and bangs that covered the side of his face. Jason would've normally laughed at such a hairdo if it had not been for the man's expression. His face was cold, as if all his life he had known nothing but hatred and anger. His blue eyes seemed to stare into Jason's soul. He also had a black leather jacket with a collar that reached up to his ears. His jacket was opened to show his chest, but there were straps that formed an X. He also had black gloves, pants, and boots as well. The boots both had two grey belts over them, and he had a silver pauldron on each shoulder. The weapon he carried was an incredibly long sword almost like a katana. The three of them could tell this was one bad dude.

"Is this guy with Organization XIII?" Jason asked Riku.

Riku shook his head and replied, "No,"

"Why does that not reassure me?" Jason asked. He'd never say it bluntly, but Jason was feeling terrified, and fear is not something he felt often.

Zack chuckled. "Never fear. You've got a bonna fide hero here," he said with a smug look on his face. Drawing his sword Zack charged at the stranger. The stranger blocked Zack's attack, threw him back and literally floated to the roof of a nearby building.

Zack was not deterred. Zack jumped up and continued to attack the man, who seemed to block and parry every blow. Every fan of _Final Fantasy_ would see that Zack was using his classic moves from the game series, but as neither Riku or Jason played games all they saw was Zack making a bunch of moves that were awesome, but in real life would be completely impossible.

The blades kept clashing against each other, the metal ringing throughout the area. It was almost as if these two had spent their entire lives learning to use swords, and that they've been fighting each other from day one. Jason had been in his fair share of fights and he had a sixth sense that could tell him if someone stood a chance of winning or not. Right now it was telling him that even though Zack was good there was something about the other guy that gave him the upper hand.

Sure enough, the silver haired man used his sword to toss Zack into the air, and then he vanished only to reappear in front of Zack. Before Zack could recover the man began to slash him violently over and over again. Both Riku and Jason were sure that Zack was not going to survive this. The warrior fell to the ground, his sword impaling the street next to him. The silver haired man floated down and raised his sword to finish Zack off.

Without knowing why Jason grabbed a rock and threw it as hard as he could. The left pauldron clanged as the rock hit it. The man turned away from a groaning Zack and began to walk towards Riku and Jason, who both summoned their keyblades and prepared for a fight.

"You do know we have no chance of winning right?" RIku checked with Jason.

"Says who?" Jason retorted, though he knew it would be a bloodbath.

The man raised his sword to strike, but then someone else appeared and blocked his sword from reaching Riku and Jason. The man was also dressed in black, but it was nothing in similarity to what the silver haired dude wore. The new warrior had spikey blonde hair and carried a thick sword that was covered in bandages. Jason thought that looked weird.

The silver haired man smiled, for once. "So you finally decided to show up Cloud," he said in a calm, cold voice. Jason shivered at the sound of it.

"No matter where you go Sephiroth I will find you." Cloud responded. Jason could tell Cloud was a tough guy who took everything seriously.

"At least we now know who Creepy is," Jason said to Riku.

"But can you defeat me? I know you. You will always live in your past and the light of the present will never be enough for you," Sephiroth said.

"Shut up!" Cloud said as he took a swung at Sephiroth. Sephiroth blocked the blow and leapt into the air. He slowly landed on someone's chimney and chuckled.

"Another time," Sephiroth said as he vanished before their eyes. Could leapt to attack, but he was too slow and ended up burying his sword in the chimney.

Riku then ran over to check on Zack. To say he had seen better days would be an understatement. He was covered from head to toe in cuts that were going to need treatment right away. When Jason got over there he was sure Zack had a lot of broken bones as well. What else would happen from a fall like that?

"Yo, Cloud, we need to get Zack here some help." Jason called up to the blonde swordsman. Cloud, who was still steamed from losing Sephiroth, silently admitted there were other things to worry about at the moment. He jumped down from his position and checked on Zack's wounds.

"I know someone who can help." Cloud said. He tried to pick Zack up, but he cried out in pain as soon as Cloud touched him.

"Heal," Riku said as he cast some spell that caused an image of a flower to appear over Zack. Green leaves fell around Zack, closing up a lot of the cuts, and Jason was sure many of the bones were healed as well. He wasn't a hundred percent fixed, but it allowed Cloud to pick him without him crying out in pain.

At first the three of them walked in silence. Jason was never one for conversation, but for once he actually wanted to talk. He just wasn't sure what to say. What do you talk about with some oober awesome swordsman?

"You're new here, just come from another world no doubt," Cloud said, though not in a loud voice. That surprised both Jason and Riku. "Relax. I know about other worlds. I've been to some," Cloud added.

"They're supposed to be a secret," Riku said.

Cloud nodded. "For good reason. People would use that knowledge to their advantage. People like Sephiroth and Shinra."

"Who's Shinra?" Jason asked.

"The Shinra Power Company. They've been offering to help rebuild the city. No one's trusting them though," Cloud explained. He sounded as if he had a bad experience with Shinra.

Riku decided to change the topic. "So how do you know Sephiroth?" he asked while carrying Zack's sword.

For a minute it seemed Cloud wasn't going to respond. Jason was about to say something before Cloud spoke, "Sephiroth is not someone you want to mess with. You're lucky I came by when I did, or else you'd be dead."

"I can understand why Sora had a hard time beating him," Riku said.

Cloud turned to face Riku so fast Zack groaned in discomfort. "You know Sora?" He asked.

"They're friends," Jason said.

"You're lucky. Sora's a good guy," Cloud said.

"He is." Riku agreed.

"In case you're wondering, I'm Jason, and that's Riku," Jason said.

"Thanks for the info," Cloud said.

"So how could you tell we were from other worlds?" Jason asked.

"Well, you don't look like you're from around here, or any world I've been to," Cloud explained. In case I didn't mention this earlier Netokan is a world that would be considered live action. Essentially to us Jason looked like he was interacting with cartoon characters.

"That obvious?" Jason asked.

"You have no idea," Cloud said.

After that all conversation ceased. They didn't get a chance to start them up again because they had entered another market section of this world, and there were a lot more stalls here than there were in the area they first landed in. Jason saw some food stalls and headed over there to get something to eat. Soon he was munching on a hot dog with chili and onions. He didn't really know what it was, but he was too hungry to care. It was edible, and he knew where it was going.

A hand came down on his shoulder. Jason turned round quickly and prepared for a fight. Riku stood there, so Jason relaxed for once.

"We found who he was looking for," Riku said as he pointed to Cloud. He was talking to a woman with brown hair and two bangs on either side of her bright green eyes. She was dressed in a carmine pink and white top that was held up by a string around her neck. Underneath were two more dresses, a pink one with a horizontal white stripe near the bottom, and the last was white and slightly longer than the first. She also had brown boots on.

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Meanwhile Xigbar was wandering around The Lanes Between. After his mission to Disney Castle he had been scouting the worlds trying to find where those pesky little brats had been. He had been unable to find a trace. Not to mention the king's mutt was now on the loose. Now there had been that weird shaking that he felt even in The Lanes Between. Xemnas would want him to find out as much about it as possible, and if he returned with nothing…well there were worse things than being without a heart.

"How exactly am I supposed to find out about an earthquake in the middle of empty space? It's counterintuitive." Xibgar grumbled to himself. That was when he saw it. For all of you reading this, picture the camera at an angle that shows Xigbar looking at something without showing you. Then picture the camera zooming out slowly until it stops at what appears to be an arm.


End file.
